Apremilast Treatment of Cancer in Mice Tumorised with Breast Cancer: In Vivo Study

Abstract

It is widely accepted that vascular endothelial growth factor, often abbreviated as VEGF, is an important mediator in the process of tumor angiogenesis, which includes neovascularization in human breast cancer. Patients with either node-positive or node-negative breast cancer have a worse prognosis overall if there are high levels of VEGF in the tissue. It would seem logical to expect a poor prognosis given these circumstances. There is evidence that the partial estrogen receptor agonist apremilast may increase the quantity of VEGF mRNA that is generated in breast cancer cells, suggesting that hormones may regulate the amount of VEGF that is expressed. However, the findings of clinical studies show that apremilast increases average survival rates while reducing the incidence of metastases. These results seem to raise questions about apremilast's efficacy as an adjuvant treatment for estrogen-dependent breast cancer. In this study, we demonstrate for the first time that apremilast can lower extracellular VEGF levels in vivo using solid MCF-7 tumors in naked mice. Nothing like to this has ever been done. Following the injection of apremilast, the levels of extracellular VEGF seen in the cell culture conditions were dramatically decreased. The in vivo outcomes that were found were supported by these findings.