Role of cysteinyl leukotriene receptor-1 antagonists in treatment of experimentally induced mammary tumor: does montelukast modulate antitumor and immunosuppressant effects of doxorubicin?

It has been reported that a leukotriene (LT)-D4 receptor (i.e. cysteinyl LT1 receptor; CysLT1R) has an important role in carcinogenesis. The current study was carried out to assess the possible antitumor effects of montelukast (MON), a CysLT1R antagonist, in a mouse mammary carcinoma model, that is, a solid Ehrlich carcinoma (SEC). Effects of MON on tumor-induced immune dysfunction and the possibility that MON may modulate the antitumor and immunomodulatory effects of doxorubicin (DOX) were also studied. The effects in tumor-bearing hosts of several dosings with MON (10 mg/kg, per os), with and without the added presence of DOX (2 mg/kg, intraperitoneal), were investigated in vivo; end points evaluated included assessment of tumor volume, splenic lymphocyte profiles/functionality, tumor necrosis factor-α content, as well as apoptosis and expression of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) among the tumor cells. The data indicate that MON induced significant antitumor activity against the SEC. MON treatments also significantly mitigated both tumor- and DOX-induced declines in immune parameters assessed here. Moreover, MON led to decreased NF-κB nuclear expression and, in doing so, appeared to chemosensitize these tumor cells to DOX-induced apoptosis.