siRNA-mediated silencing of integrin ß3 expression inhibits the metastatic potential of B16 melanoma cells.

Integrins comprise a large family of αß heterodimeric cell-surface receptors that mediate diverse processes involved in cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions such as cellular adhesion and migration, cell survival and differentiation. It is now well documented that integrins play a crucial role in cancer metastasis and angiogenesis. The ß3 integrins appear to have an important stimulatory role in tumour progression and metastasis and, thus, have been often proposed as potential targets for cancer diagnosis and therapy. In this study, we evaluated the in vitro and in vivo properties of B16 mouse melanoma cells with low expression of integrin ß3. Proliferation rate, adhesive properties and the ability to migrate and metastasize were studied. Over 90% inhibition of integrin ß3 expression was achieved as a result of the transfection with siRNA. No changes in the proliferation rate were observed in siRNA-transfected B16 cells; however, they showed impaired ability to bind to fibronectin. Moreover, inhibition of integrin ß3 expression caused almost complete impairment of the ability of B16 cells to migrate through matrigel and metastasize. The mean number of lung metastatic colonies in mice inoculated intravenously with B16 expressing low levels of integrin ß3 was decreased to 14 colonies compared to 101 in the control group. These results provide evidence for a direct role of integrin ß3 in the adhesion, migration and metastasis processes of mouse melanoma cells and point to the potential therapeutic advantages of siRNAs.

Synthesis of new 1-phenyl-6H-pyrido[4,3-b]carbazole derivatives with potential cytostatic activity.

A number of new 1-substituted-6H-pyrido[4,3-b]carbazole derivatives have been synthesized. Nine of the newly obtained compounds were subjected to preliminary in vitro cytostatic activity screening against murine leukemia (L1210), human lung cancer (A549) and human colon cancer (HT29) cell lines. One particular compound 6f exhibited over 20 times better activity against L1210 tumor cell line than the reference ellipticine.

Antitumor effect of combined treatment of mice with cytostatic agents and bacteriophage T4.

The past few years have shown significant resurgent interest in the old concept of bacteriophage therapy. Some research groups continue to develop whole bacteriophage preparations as alternatives to antibiotic antibacterial treatment. However, improvements in the methods of purification of phage preparations open new opportunities in the successful treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. An open question remains on whether bacteriophage preparations (BP) can be safely applied in antibacterial treatment of patients suffering from infections as a consequence of immunosuppression caused by anticancer chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential modulating effect of bacteriophage T4 preparations administered to mice bearing s.c. or i.v. inoculated B16 melanoma and treated with conventional anticancer drugs, i.e. cyclophosphamide (CY), cisplatin (CPt) or 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Treatment of mice with (BPT) T4 preparation slightly potentiated the antimetastatic effect of CY. Importantly, no combination of phage-cytostatic treatment resulted in a decrease in the antimetastatic or antitumour effects of an applied drug. This suggests the possibility of safe combination of bacteriophage preparations with popular antitumour drugs.

Synthesis and anticancer activity of new 1-substituted-6H-pyrido[4,3-b]carbazole derivatives.

This study examines the synthesis and cytostatic activity of new 5,6-dimethyl-1-substituted-6H-pyrido[4,3-b]carbazole derivatives. Their structures were confirmed by (1)H-NMR and elemental analysis. Seven of the new compounds were tested by the SRB method in vitro against human lung cancer (A549) and human kidney cancer (A498) cell lines. Biological tests indicated remarkable cytostatic effects of four compounds tested in comparison with ellipticine and cisplatin as reference drugs. One particular compound 3c was about four times more active on A498 than ellipticine with similar activity on the A549 cell line, and outperformed cisplatin activity on both tumor cell lines.