Festuccia Claudio, Gravina Giovanni Luca, Giorgio Carmine, Mancini Andrea, Pellegrini Cristina, Colapietro Alessandro, Delle Monache Simona, Maturo Maria Giovanna, Sferra Roberta, Chiodelli Paola, Rusnati Marco, Cantoni Annamaria, Castelli Riccardo, Vacondio Federica, Lodola Alessio, Tognolini Massimiliano
Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, 67100, L'Aquila, Italy.
Department of Food and Drug, University of Parma, 43124, Parma, Italy.
Oncotarget. 2018 May 11;9(36):24347-24363. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.25272.
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most malignant brain tumor, showing high resistance to standard therapeutic approaches that combine surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. As opposed to healthy tissues, EphA2 has been found highly expressed in specimens of glioblastoma, and increased expression of EphA2 has been shown to correlate with poor survival rates. Accordingly, agents blocking Eph receptor activity could represent a new therapeutic approach. Herein, we demonstrate that UniPR1331, a pan Eph receptor antagonist, possesses significant anti-angiogenic and anti-vasculogenic properties which lead to a significant anti-tumor activity in xenograft and orthotopic models of GBM. UniPR1331 halved the final volume of tumors when tested in xenografts (p<0.01) and enhanced the disease-free survival of treated animals in the orthotopic models of GBM both by using U87MG cells (40 vs 24 days of control, p<0.05) or TPC8 cells (52 vs 16 days, p<0.01). Further, the association of UniPR1331 with the anti-VEGF antibody Bevacizumab significantly increased the efficacy of both monotherapies in all tested models. Overall, our data promote UniPR1331 as a novel tool for tackling GBM.
多形性胶质母细胞瘤(GBM)是最恶性的脑肿瘤,对手术、放疗和化疗相结合的标准治疗方法表现出高度抗性。与健康组织相反,EphA2在胶质母细胞瘤标本中高表达,并且EphA2表达增加与低生存率相关。因此,阻断Eph受体活性的药物可能代表一种新的治疗方法。在此,我们证明泛Eph受体拮抗剂UniPR1331具有显著的抗血管生成和抗血管发生特性,这导致在GBM的异种移植和原位模型中具有显著的抗肿瘤活性。当在异种移植中测试时,UniPR1331使肿瘤的最终体积减半(p<0.01),并且通过使用U87MG细胞(对照组为24天,治疗组为40天,p<0.05)或TPC8细胞(对照组为16天,治疗组为52天,p<0.01),在GBM的原位模型中提高了治疗动物的无病生存期。此外,在所有测试模型中,UniPR1331与抗VEGF抗体贝伐单抗联合使用显著提高了两种单一疗法的疗效。总体而言,我们的数据表明UniPR1331是治疗GBM的一种新工具。