1. |
|
|
2. |
- Fuchs, Dieter, et al.
(author)
-
Regression of orthotopic neuroblastoma in mice by targeting the endothelial and tumor cell compartments
- 2009
-
In: Journal of Translational Medicine. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1479-5876. ; 7, s. 16-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: High-risk neuroblastoma has an overall five-year survival of less than 40%, indicating a need for new treatment strategies such as angiogenesis inhibition. Recent studies have shown that chemotherapeutic drugs can inhibit angiogenesis if administered in a continuous schedule. The aim of this study was primarily to characterize tumor spread in an orthotopic, metastatic model for aggressive, MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma and secondarily to study the effects of daily administration of the chemotherapeutic agent CHS 828 on tumor angiogenesis, tumor growth, and spread. METHODS: MYCN-amplified human neuroblastoma cells (IMR-32, 2 x 10(6)) were injected into the left adrenal gland in SCID mice through a flank incision. Nine weeks later, a new laparotomy was performed to confirm tumor establishment and to estimate tumor volume. Animals were randomized to either treatment with CHS 828 (20 mg/kg/day; p.o.) or vehicle control. Differences between groups in tumor volume were analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test and in metastatic spread using Fisher's exact test. Differences with p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The orthotopic model resembled clinical neuroblastoma in respect to tumor site, growth and spread. Treatment with CHS 828 resulted in tumor regression (p < 0.001) and reduction in viable tumor fraction (p < 0.001) and metastatic spread (p < 0.05) in correlation with reduced plasma levels of the putative tumor marker chromogranin A (p < 0.001). These effects were due to increased tumor cell death and reduced angiogenesis. No treatment-related toxicities were observed. CONCLUSION: The metastatic animal model in this study resembled clinical neuroblastoma and is therefore clinically relevant for examining new treatment strategies for this malignancy. Our results indicate that daily scheduling of CHS 828 may be beneficial in treating patients with high-risk neuroblastoma.
|
|
3. |
- Hallböök, Helene, 1963-
(author)
-
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in Adult Patients : Studies of Prognostic Factors, Treatment Results and in vitro Cellular Drug Resistance
- 2005
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Treatment results and clinical characteristics in adult acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) were evaluated regarding three issues: a new treatment with cytarabine up-front, stem cell transplantation and a comparison between adult and paediatric treatment protocols. All studies were conducted on a national basis. Furthermore, activity of imatinib was investigated by in vitro cytotoxicity assay. The national protocol was evaluated in 153 adult ALL patients. A high complete remission rate, 86%, was achieved with 29% overall survival at 3-years. Favourable outcome was identified in patients < 40 years with precursor B phenotype and continuous complete remission was higher for precursor B compared to T-ALL. Stem cell transplantation was evaluated in 187 patients. No differences in outcome between allogeneic and autologous transplantation were found, with the exception of Philadelphia-positive ALL, in which allogeneic transplantation was preferable. Limited chronic graft-versus-host disease (compared to none) resulted in superior disease free survival. The paediatric NOPHO-92 and the Adult protocols were evaluated for 243 ALL-patients. Superior remission rate and survival were achieved for 10-18 year-olds treated according to the Paediatric protocol compared to both 15-25 and 25-40 year-olds treated according to the Adult protocol. Treatment protocol was a significant prognostic factor for patients aged 15-20 years. Fluorometric Microculture Cytotoxicity Assey was used to analyze 15 tumour cell samples from ALL patients. High concordance was determined between in vitro sensitivity to imatinib and presence of BCR-ABL. Daunorubicin, prednisolone and cytarabine had the greatest benefit from a combination with imatinib. The national adult treatment protocol’s results were consistent with international trials regarding precursor B ALL but may be under performing for T-ALL. Adolescents may benefit from treatment according to the Paediatric protocol. No difference in outcome between allogeneic and autologous stem cell transplantation was determined except for Philadelphia-positive patients, despite the indication of a graft-versus-leukaemia effect.
|
|
4. |
- Hallböök, Helene, et al.
(author)
-
In vitro activity of imatinib in cells from patients with adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia
- 2005
-
In: Anti-Cancer Drugs. - 0959-4973 .- 1473-5741. ; 16:6, s. 631-634
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We evaluated the in vitro activity of imatinib on BCR-ABL-positive and -negative tumor cells from patients with adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and investigated in vitro interactions between imatinib and conventional agents. A non-clonogenic cytotoxicity assay was used to analyze p190 BCR-ABL-positive (n = 4), p210 BCR-ABL-positive (n = 2) and BCR-ABL-negative (n = 9) tumor cells from adult ALL patients. The in vitro cytotoxic effect of imatinib was studied alone, and in combination with the cytotoxic agents cytarabine, prednisolone, vincristine, daunorubicin, asparaginase and mercaptopurine. The BCR-ABL-positive samples were significantly (p < 0.05) more sensitive to imatinib than the BCR-ABL-negative at the concentrations 0.1, 1 and 10 muM. Interestingly, the two p210 samples were somewhat less sensitive to imatinib than the p190 samples. Daunorubicin, prednisolone and cytarabine showed the largest benefit from combination with imatinib compared to the most active single agent. The study confirms that drug sensitivity to imatinib is specific for BCR-ABL-positive samples. The results also suggest that combinations between imatinib and daunorubicin, predisolone or cytarabine may be advantageous for the treatment of Philadelphia-positive ALL.
|
|
5. |
- Hassan, Saadia B., et al.
(author)
-
CHS 828 kill tumour cells by inhibiting the nuclear factor-kappa B translocation but unlikely through down-regulation of proteasome
- 2006
-
In: Anticancer Research. - 0250-7005 .- 1791-7530. ; 26:6B, s. 4431-4436
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- CHS 828 (N-(6-chlorophenoxyhexyl)-N'cyano-N"-4-pyridylguanidine) has shown promising activity in many preclinical systems and in phase I/II clinical trials. The nuclear transcription factor kappa B (NF-κB) has been identified as a target for CHS 828. The aim of this study was to confirm the inhibitory effect of CHS 828 on NF-κB translocation and to explore its possible effect on the proteasome using 7 cell lines. Translocation of NF-κB from the cytoplasm to the nucleus was analysed using a quantitative cytometric system, ArrayScan®. The activity of the proteasome was assayed by monitoring the hydrolysis of a fluorogenic substrate. In parallel, the in vitro cytotoxic effect of CHS 828 was analyzed using a 72-h microtiter plate-based cytotoxicity assay (FMCA). CHS 828 inhibited NF-κB translocation in the cell lines where it was able to inhibit the tumour cell growth. However, the results did not prove any effect of CHS 828 on proteasome activity when compared to a proteasome inhibitor activity.
|
|
6. |
- Hassan, Saadia Bashir, et al.
(author)
-
Cytotoxic activity of a new paclitaxel formulation, Pacliex, in vitro and in vivo
- 2005
-
In: Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0344-5704 .- 1432-0843. ; 55:1, s. 47-54:1, s. 47-54
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: The paclitaxel formulation, Taxol (Bristol-Myers Squibb), is one of the most effective anticancer agents used today. However; it is associated with serious side effects believed to be caused by the Cremophor EL used for its formulation. AIM: To evaluate the cytotoxic activity of a new paclitaxel formulation, Pacliex (developed by Oasmia Pharmaceutical, Uppsala, Sweden), a mixed micelles preparation in which an amphiphilic synthetic derivative of retinoic acid replaced Cremophor EL/ethanol vehicle. METHOD: In this study, three model systems were used to evaluate the cytotoxic activity of Pacliex and other paclitaxel preparations. The cytotoxic activities of Pacliex, Taxol and paclitaxel in ethanol were investigated against a panel of ten human tumor cell lines using the fluorometric microculture cytotoxicity assay (FMCA). Low- and high- proliferating in vitro hollow fiber model of two cell lines, the leukemia CCRF-CEM and the myeloma RPMI 8226/S cell lines, were used to assess the cytotoxic activity of the three formulations. The in vivo hollow fiber model of the two cell lines was used for assessment of Pacliex and Taxol activity. The [3-4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was utilized to analyze the in vitro and in vivo hollow fiber data. RESULT: Pacliex was somewhat more effective than Taxol in the more sensitive cell lines. The activity of Taxol was more pronounced in the resistant cell lines due to an additive effect of the vehicle used. The three formulations showed similar activity in both the low- and high-proliferating in vitro hollow fiber cultures. The in vivo hollow fiber cytotoxic activity of Pacliex was similar to that of Taxol. Putting all the results together, it was found that all the three formulations had similar in vitro and in vivo activity. CONCLUSION: The three in vitro and in vivo models confirmed the similarity of the cytotoxic activities of Pacliex and Taxol. Considering the above, Pacliex could be an interesting alternative Cremophor EL-free formulation of paclitaxel.
|
|
7. |
- Hassan, Saadia B., et al.
(author)
-
Primary lymphocytes as predictors for species differences in cytotoxic drug sensitivity
- 2007
-
In: Toxicology in Vitro. - : Elsevier BV. - 0887-2333 .- 1879-3177. ; 21:6, s. 1174-1181
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Several in vitro methods have been suggested to predict drug-induced haematotoxicity and species differences; the most commonly used being the clonogenic CFU-GM assay. The aim of the current study was to evaluate whether primary lymphocytes from peripheral blood, assayed with a short-term non-clonogenic assay, could be used to detect species differences in drug sensitivity, and offer an alternative to the CFU-GM assay. The effect of 17 different cytotoxic drugs on lymphocytes from human, dog, rat and mouse was evaluated. A higher sensitivity of human than mouse lymphocytes was seen for topotecan and for 3 of 5 antimetabolites tested. Clear species specificity was also seen for the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib where rodent cells were 50–300 times less sensitive than human cells. Good agreement between our data and published CFU-GM data was observed, suggesting that primary lymphocytes may be a useful model for species difference screening in drug development.
|
|
8. |
- Hassan, Saadia, et al.
(author)
-
Gene expression signature-based chemcial genomics and activity pattern in a panel of tumour cell lines propose linalyl acetate as a protein kinase/NF-κB inhibitor
- 2008
-
In: Gene Therapy and Molecular Biology. - 1529-9120. ; 12:B, s. 359-370
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The essential oil of Lebanese sage, Salvia libanotica, was reported to have anti-tumour activity; however, the mechanism of action has not been identified yet. In this study, 14- cancer cell lines including drug-sensitive and resistant lung, leukaemia, and colon, as well as primary human tumours of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and primary normal mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were used to characterize the anti-tumour activity and mechanism of action of linalyl acetate, a component of the Lebanese sage essential oil. Drug activity and gene expression data sets were utilized to identify drugs with similar activity patterns and genes involved in drug sensitivity/resistance. In addition, the Connectivity Map, a gene expression signature-based screening approach, assisted in predicting further the molecular action of linalyl acetate. Small cell lung carcinoma and colorectal cancer cell lines were the most sensitive to the drug and greater tumour selectivity was observed against chronic lymphocytic leukaemia cells compared to normal mononuclear cells. Only limited effect of some of the classical mechanisms of multi-drug resistance on the activity of Linalyl acetate was noted which makes it potentially interesting for drug-resistant patients. There was high similarity between the activity-pattern/gene expression profile of linalyl acetate and that of protein kinase/NF-kappa B inhibitors. Validating this, linalyl acetate was found to strongly inhibit Janus kinase, JAK3, and p38 alpha kinases in a cell-free assay as well as the NF-kappa B translocation in a dose-dependent manner. Taken together, our results show that the NF-kappa B inhibitor, linalyl acetate, may represent a new therapeutic compound in the management of inflammation and cancer.
|
|
9. |
- Hovstadius, Peter, 1962-
(author)
-
Preclinical and Clinical Development of the Novel Cyanoguanidine CHS 828 for Cancer Treatment
- 2005
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- CHS 828 is a cyanoguanidine with anti-tumour properties which has shown promising effects in several preclinical models. This thesis describes both preclinical and clinical studies aiming to investigate disease specific activity, clinical tolerability and efficacy of CHS 828.In paper I we investigated CHS 828 activity in a cell line panel with human myeloma cells, three of these cell-lines were also tested in vivo using a hollow fibre rat-model. In paper II we investigated CHS 828 activity in primary human tumour samples from patients. CHS 828 showed an effect on all tumour cell types tested both the primary human tumour samples and the myeloma cell lines. Notably, CHS 828 showed a high relative in vitro activity against tumour cells from chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and high-grade lymphoma. In a phase I trial we determined the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of CHS 828. Haematological toxicity was generally mild and dominated by transient thrombocytopenia and lymphocytopenia. Non-haematological toxicity was mostly of gastrointestinal origin. The recommended phase two dose (RPTD) of CHS 828 was estimated to be 20 mg once daily for five days in cycles of 28 days duration.In a phase II trial we investigated the effect of CHS 828 on patients diagnosed with B-CLL. In total 12 patients were enrolled. CHS 828 was found to be well tolerated and the most common haematological toxicity was thrombocytopenia. Non-haematological toxicities were generally mild. Transient decreases in lymphocyte counts could be discerned coinciding with drug dosing, but no sustained clinical responses could be achieved.In conclusion, CHS 828 demonstrated marked effects in the preclinical investigations suggesting haematological malignancies as the main target. The clinical phase I study established a safe dose and the subsequent phase II trial in B-CLL patients showed biological effect but with no clinical disease response.
|
|
10. |
- Lindhagen, Elin, et al.
(author)
-
In vitro activity of 20 agents in different prognostic subgroups of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia : rolipram and prednisolone active in cells from patients with poor prognosis
- 2009
-
In: European Journal of Haematology. - : Wiley. - 0902-4441 .- 1600-0609. ; 83:1, s. 22-34
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: There is a need for development of new drugs for treatment of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), especially for poor-prognostic subgroups resistant to conventional therapy. Objective: The in vitro antileukaemic activity of 20 different anticancer agents was characterized in tumour cells from CLL, aiming at identifying agents active in poor-prognostic subgroups.Design and methods: In tumour cells from 40 CLL patients and in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 3 healthy controls, the activity of 20 substances was assessed using a non-clonogenic assay. The CLL samples were characterized regarding genomic aberrations by interphase FISH and immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable (IGHV) gene mutational status.Results:In line with clinical experience, cells from patients with unfavourable genomic aberrations (del(11q)/del(17p)) showed lower drug sensitivity to fludarabine and chlorambucil than cells from patients with favourable cytogenetics (del(13q)/no aberration). Most investigated drugs demonstrated similar activity in CLL cells from patients with unmutated and mutated IGHV genes as well as in CLL cells versus PBMC. Interestingly, prednisolone and rolipram displayed high CLL specificity, high activity in CLL cells with unmutated IGHV genes and retained the effect in several cases with 11q/17p deletion. Further studies on prednisolone and rolipram revealed a synergy when these agents were combined in CLL cells, and suggested correlation between drug sensitivity and difference in downstream signalling.Conclusion:Prednisolone and rolipram are interesting for further studies in CLL with inferior prognosis. The study can also be considered a basis for future efforts to find drugs active in subsets of CLL patients that are resistant to conventional therapy.
|
|