Korsisaari Nina, Kasman Ian M, Forrest William F, Pal Navneet, Bai Wei, Fuh Germaine, Peale Franklin V, Smits Ron, Ferrara Napoleone
Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Jun 19;104(25):10625-30. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0704213104. Epub 2007 Jun 6.
Anti-VEGF-A monoclonal antibodies, in combination with chemotherapy, result in a survival benefit in patients with metastatic colorectal and non-small cell lung cancer, but little is known regarding the impact of anti-VEGF-A therapy on benign or premalignant tumors. The Apc+/min mice have been widely used as a model recapitulating early intestinal adenoma formation. To investigate whether tumor growth in Apc+/min mice is mediated by VEGF-A-dependent angiogenesis, we used two independent approaches to inhibit VEGF-A: monotherapy with a monoclonal antibody (Mab) targeting VEGF-A and genetic deletion of VEGF-A selectively in intestinal epithelial cells. Short-term (3 or 6 weeks) treatment with anti-VEGF-A Mab G6-31 resulted in a nearly complete suppression of adenoma growth throughout the small intestine. Growth inhibition by Mab G6-31 was associated with a decrease in vascular density. Long-term (up to 52 weeks) treatment with Mab G6-31 led to a substantial increase in median survival. Deletion of VEGF-A in intestinal epithelial cells of Apc+/min mice yielded a significant inhibition of tumor growth, albeit of lesser magnitude than that resulting from Mab G6-31 administration. These results establish that inhibition of VEGF-A signaling is sufficient for tumor growth cessation and confers a long-term survival benefit in an intestinal adenoma model. Therefore, VEGF-A inhibition may be a previously uncharacterized strategy for the prevention of the angiogenic switch and growth in intestinal adenomas.
抗血管内皮生长因子A(VEGF-A)单克隆抗体与化疗联合使用,可使转移性结直肠癌和非小细胞肺癌患者的生存期延长,但抗VEGF-A治疗对良性或癌前肿瘤的影响却知之甚少。Apc+/min小鼠已被广泛用作模拟早期肠道腺瘤形成的模型。为了研究Apc+/min小鼠的肿瘤生长是否由VEGF-A依赖性血管生成介导,我们采用了两种独立的方法来抑制VEGF-A:用靶向VEGF-A的单克隆抗体(Mab)进行单一疗法,以及在肠道上皮细胞中选择性地基因敲除VEGF-A。用抗VEGF-A Mab G6-31进行短期(3或6周)治疗,可使整个小肠的腺瘤生长几乎完全受到抑制。Mab G6-31对生长的抑制与血管密度的降低有关。用Mab G6-31进行长期(长达52周)治疗可使中位生存期大幅延长。在Apc+/min小鼠的肠道上皮细胞中敲除VEGF-A可显著抑制肿瘤生长,尽管其程度小于给予Mab G6-31所产生的抑制作用。这些结果表明,抑制VEGF-A信号传导足以使肿瘤生长停止,并在肠道腺瘤模型中带来长期生存益处。因此,抑制VEGF-A可能是一种以前未被描述的预防肠道腺瘤血管生成转换和生长的策略。