Intermittent high dose proton pump inhibitor enhances the antitumor effects of chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Acidity is a hallmark of malignant tumor, representing a very efficient mechanism of chemoresistance. Proton pump inhibitors (PPI) at high dosage have been shown to sensitize chemoresistant human tumor cells and tumors to cytotoxic molecules. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the efficacy of PPI in improving the clinical outcome of docetaxel + cisplatin regimen in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). METHODS: Patients enrolled were randomly assigned to three arms: Arm A, docetaxel 75 mg/m(2) followed by cisplatin 75 mg/m(2) on d4, repeated every 21 days with a maximum of 6 cycles; Arm B, the same chemotherapy preceded by three days esomeprazole (ESOM) 80 mg p.o. bid, beginning on d1 repeated weekly. Weekly intermittent administration of ESOM (3 days on 4 days off) was maintained up to maximum 66 weeks; Arm C, the same as Arm B with the only difference being dose of ESOM at 100 mg p.o. bid. The primary endpoint was response rate. RESULTS: Ninety-four patients were randomly assigned and underwent at least one injection of chemotherapy. Response rates for arm A, B and C were 46.9, 71.0, and 64.5 %, respectively. Median TTP for arm A (n = 32), B (n = 31), C (n = 31) were 8.7, 9.4, and 9.7 months, respectively. A significant difference was observed between patients who had taken PPI and who not with ORR (67.7 % vs. 46.9 %, p = 0.049) and median TTP (9.7 months vs. 8.7 months, p = 0.045) [corrected]. Exploratory analysis showed that among 15 patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), this difference was bigger with median TTP of 10.7 and 5.8 months, respectively (p = 0.011). PPI combination showed a marked effect on OS as well, while with a borderline significance (29.9 vs. 19.2 months, p = 0.090). No additional toxicity was observed with PPI. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this pilot clinical trial showed that intermittent high dose PPI enhance the antitumor effects of chemotherapy in MBC patients without evidence of additional toxicity, which requires urgent validation in a multicenter, randomized, phase III trial. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT01069081 .

Polysaccharide peptide mediates apoptosis by up-regulating p21 gene and down-regulating cyclin D1 gene.

The use of herbal medicine is a common practice among Chinese women with breast cancer. Yunzhi (Voriolus versicolor), a substance that is regarded as a biological response modifier, is frequently used. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the anti-proliferative action of, Yunzhi, polysaccharide peptide (PSP), on breast cancer cells. Breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) were cultured with and without PSP for 7 days. Cell growth at 24, 72, 120 and 168 hours was measured by Cell Proliferation Reagent (WST-1). Cells treated with PSP were found to have a significant reduction in cell proliferation as compared to controls after 72 hours of incubation. This lasted for 168 hours. When the effect of PSP on apoptosis was studied by the TdT-mediated X-dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) assay, we found that PSP had a significant effect upon apoptosis from 24 hours onward. Immunostaining showed that PSP increased p21 expression and decreased cyclin D1 expression. In conclusion, PSP is effective in inhibiting cell proliferation through apoptosis. The mechanism for the apoptosis may be through up-regulation of p21 and down-regulation of cyclin D1.