Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0017636 (glioblastoma)
 18,345 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Merck KGaA is developing cilengitide, the lead in a series of integrin antagonists with anti-angiogenic activities, for the potential treatment of a variety of cancer types. The National Cancer Institute is conducting clinical trials of cilengitide. In October 1999, phase II trials in non-small-cell lung cancer (as a monotherapy) and pancreatic cancer (in combination with gemcitabine) were initiated. These were ongoing in February 2002, by which time, a phase I trial and a phase I/II trial in glioblastoma were underway.
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PMID:Cilengitide Merck. 1290 Dec 35

Motexafin gadolinium [gadolinium (III) texaphyrin, gadolinium texaphyrin, Gd-Tex, GdT2B2, PCI 0120] is a radiosensitising agent developed for use in cancer therapy. It is cytotoxic in haematological malignancies by selectively localising in cancer cells that have high rates of metabolism. Motexafin gadolinium inhibits cellular respiration resulting in the production of reactive oxygen species and inducing apoptosis. It is being developed by Pharmacyclics in the US. Bulk motexafin gadolinium is supplied to Pharmacyclics by the US company, Celanese, through a manufacturing and supply agreement between the two companies. In June 2003, at the 39th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO-2003), the importance of having an agent for the treatment of brain metastases from lung cancer was highlighted. Results of a phase III study were presented that showed that motexafin gadolinium treatment was associated with a delay in time to neurological and neurocognitive progression in lung cancer patients. This was an important finding, as 46.6% of lung cancer patients already have brain metastases at the time of initial diagnosis, compared with only 2.7% of breast cancer patients. Brain metastases are also often the only site of metastatic disease in patients with lung cancer. In December 2002, Pharmacyclics began a phase III trial of motexafin gadolinium in patients with brain metastases (brain cancer in phase table) from lung cancer in the US, Europe, Canada and Australia. The trial is known as the Study of neurologic progression with Motexafin gadolinium And Radiation Therapy (SMART) and will compare whole-brain irradiation with whole-brain irradiation plus motexafin gadolinium in 550 patients. The primary efficacy endpoint is time to neurological progression and the secondary endpoints are survival and neurocognitive function. In January 2003, the US FDA completed its Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) of the SMART trial with a positive result and by June 2003, enrollment had begun. In addition, phase I trials are underway in children with intrinsic pontine glioma and adults with head and neck, lung and pancreatic cancers. A phase II trial is also being conducted in the US in patients with glioblastoma multiforme. Enrollment in this trial has been completed and preliminary results have been reported. Pharmacyclics has completed enrollment and follow-up of adults in its pivotal phase III trial of motexafin gadolinium as a radiation sensitiser for the treatment of brain metastases. The trial was conducted at 35 centres in Europe, Canada and the US. Full results from this initial phase III trial were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Orlando, Florida, USA, held in May 2002. Pharmacyclics also announced in October 2002, at the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO), that motexafin gadolinium significantly prolonged time to neurological progression when added to whole brain radiation therapy and reduced the number of deaths in patients with brain tumour. Pharmacyclics announced in September 2000 that it has initiated two NCI-sponsored phase I trials conducted under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between Pharmacyclics and the NCI. The first trial, conducted in patients with stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer, was designed to determine the safety of two different dosing regimens of motexafin gadolinium during preoperative radiotherapy after induction chemotherapy. The second study was designed to examine the use of motexafin gadolinium in combination with stereotactic Gamma Knife radiosurgery in patients with primary glioblastoma mutiforme. Two phase I clinical trials have also been conducted for the treatment of newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, USA. These phase I studies were sponsored by the NCI and were conducted under a CRADA with the NCI. Pharmacyclics has also completed multicentre US phase II clinical trials of motexafin gadolinium fin gadolinium in patients with metastatic tumours of the brain who require whole brain radiotherapy. Motexafin gadolinium is in a phase II trial in patients with lymphomas and multiple myeloma in the US.
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PMID:Motexafin gadolinium: gadolinium (III) texaphyrin, gadolinium texaphyrin, Gd-Tex, GdT2B2, PCI 0120. 1472 95

A subset of stem cells, termed the "side population" (SP), has been identified in several tissues in mammalian species. These cells maintain a high efflux capability for antimitotic drugs. We have investigated whether functionally equivalent stem cells also may be detected in human cancers. We initially examined primary tumor cells from 23 patients with neuroblastoma and cell lines derived from a range of other tumors. A distinct SP was found in neuroblastoma cells from 15 of 23 patients (65%). The SP was capable of sustained expansion ex vivo and showed evidence for asymmetric division, generating both SP and non-SP progeny. These cells also expressed high levels of ABCG2 and ABCA3 transporter genes and had a greater capacity to expel cytotoxic drugs, such as mitoxantrone, resulting in better survival. A SP also was detected in breast cancer, lung cancer, and glioblastoma cell lines, suggesting that this phenotype defines a class of cancer stem cells with inherently high resistance to chemotherapeutic agents that should be targeted during the treatment of malignant disease.
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PMID:A distinct "side population" of cells with high drug efflux capacity in human tumor cells. 1538 73

Alpha-tocopheryl succinate (TOS), a vitamin E analog, is a promising anticancer agent due to its abilities to inhibit proliferation and to induce apoptosis in a variety of human malignant cell lines, while being relatively less active toward normal cells. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the apoptotic effects of TOS are not precisely understood. Reports that TOS can generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) prompted us to investigate the role of ROS in TOS-induced apoptosis in cancer cells. We found that the human lung cancer A549 and H460 cell lines were much more sensitive to TOS-induced apoptosis than the human glioblastoma T98G and U87MG cell lines. Our data suggested that the differential TOS sensitivity was not caused by differences in the uptake and retention of TOS between TOS-sensitive and -resistant cancer cells. The differential ability of cancer cells to generate ROS in response to TOS appears to be an important factor in determining the susceptibility of cells to TOS-induced apoptosis. Our results further suggest that TOS-induced generation of ROS is involved in caspase-independent apoptosis. Taken together, our findings suggest an important role of ROS generation in TOS-induced, caspase-independent apoptosis of cancer cells.
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PMID:Role of reactive oxygen species in the induction of apoptosis by alpha-tocopheryl succinate. 1538 62

We compared the cytotoxicity of the bioreductive antitumor agents mitomycin C (MMC) and streptonigrin (SN) with or without the DT-diaphorase (DTD) inducer dimethyl fumarate (DMF) in four human glioblastoma cell lines with the conventional chemotherapeutic agent, 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU). We also examined four other types of cancer cells to compare with glioblastoma cells. Cytotoxicity was measured with the sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay and was represented by 50% inhibition concentration (IC50). Enzymatic activities of DTD, cytochrome b5 reductase and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) in cells were measured spectrophotometrically. IC50 for BCNU was in a range of 28-300 microM in the glioblastoma cell lines. Glioblastoma cells were more sensitive to MMC or SN than to BCNU. Pretreatment with DMF significantly increased cytotoxicity of MMC and SN in glioblastoma cell lines and the NCI-H1299 lung cancer cell line, but had no effect on BCNU cytotoxicity. DMF significantly increased DTD and cytochrome b5 reductase activity, and decreased GST in three of four glioblastoma cell lines. Addition of the DTD inhibitor, dicumarol, significantly inhibited cytotoxicity of MMC and SN, and reversed the increased cytotoxicity seen when DMF was combined with either MMC or SN in all glioblastoma cell lines. Combining inducers of DTD and cytochrome b5 reductase with bioreductive agents may be a potential therapeutic strategy for glioblastoma.
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PMID:Enhanced cytotoxicity of bioreductive antitumor agents with dimethyl fumarate in human glioblastoma cells. 1565 14

Efaproxiral [RSR 13, GSJ 61, JP 4, KDD 86, RS 4] is a synthetic, small-molecule, radiation-sensitising agent being developed by Allos Therapeutics primarily for the treatment of cancer. It works by binding and allosterically stabilising deoxyhaemoglobin in hypoxic regions of tumour tissue. This increases oxygen uptake of the tumour tissue and restores its sensitivity to radiation therapy, making therapy potentially more successful. This first-of-its-class compound is particularly applicable for the treatment of certain tumour types that lack oxygen, such as brain metastases. In contrast to conventional chemotherapeutic agents or radiation sensitisers, there is no requirement for efaproxiral to be administered directly into tumours or to cross the blood-brain barrier for it to display efficacy. Efaproxiral is under review for approval in the US and EU as an adjunct to whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT) for the treatment of brain metastases originating from breast cancer. It is also under clinical evaluation for a variety of other cancers, including glioblastoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and cervical cancer. Allos is seeking partnership opportunities for efaproxiral's development and marketing. The company has indicated that the development of efaproxiral would be in cooperation with a corporate partner, according to its 2003 Annual Report. In 1994, Allos Therapeutics acquired exclusive worldwide rights to intellectual property relating to efaproxiral from the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT). Allos has entered into arrangements with two contract manufacturers for the supply of efaproxiral, and a third manufacturer for the supply of the formulated drug product. Hovione FarmaCiencia is the primary supplier of efaproxiral, and is contracted to manufacture sufficient quantities on a commercial scale. In addition, a second manufacturer, Raylo Chemicals, is also producing quantities of efaproxiral. In December 2003, Allos entered into a long-term development and supply agreement with Baxter Healthcare who will formulate the efaproxiral into an injection. Allos is also seeking to establish an alternate supplier of efaproxiral injection. Allos submitted a rolling NDA to the US FDA consisting of three data components. Submission began in the third quarter of 2003 and was completed by the fourth quarter of 2003. The first part of the application containing non-clinical information was submitted on 5 August 2003. The second part of the NDA containing information about efaproxiral's chemistry, manufacture and controls (CMC) was submitted in October 2003. Allos submitted its final component of the rolling NDA in December 2003. In February 2004, Allos announced that the FDA had accepted the company's NDA under priority review status. The FDA granted efaproxiral orphan drug status in August 2004 as an adjunct to WBRT for the treatment of brain metastases among breast cancer patients. Efaproxiral also received fast-track status in November 2000 for the same indication in the US. In February 2004, Allos initiated a phase III trial, called ENRICH (Enhancing Whole Brain Radiation Therapy In Patients with Breast Cancer and Hypoxic Brain Metastases) to investigate efaproxiral as an adjunct to WBRT for the treatment of brain metastases. Median survival time is the primary endpoint of the study. The National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) is collaborating with the company to support trial enrolment and to gain additional insight about ways to improve radiation treatment in this patient population. The ENRICH trial protocol was approved by the FDA under a Special Protocol Assessment process; as part of the protocol, two interim analyses for safety and efficacy will be performed.This multicentre, randomised, open-label study has a target enrolment of approximately 360 patients at >100 medical centres across the US, Canada, Europe and South America. Allos announced in September 2004 that recruitment of clinical sites for the trial is ongoing across the US and Canada. Completion of trial enrolment in North America is anticipated in December 2005. Subsequently, Allos announced in January 2005 that recruitment into the ENRICH trial has commenced and is ongoing in Europe; enrolment at European sites is expected to conclude by the third quarter of 2006. Allos Therapeutics announced in June 2004 that it had filed an MAA with the EMEA for marketing of exaproxiral as an adjunct to WBRT for treatment of patients with brain metastases originating from breast cancer. The application is based on positive data from a pivotal phase III (REACH, RT-009) trial in this indication. The completed REACH trial investigated efaproxiral among patients with brain metastases undergoing WBRT. The trial was conducted at multiple sites in 11 countries, including the US, Canada, Europe and Australia. In August 2002 Allos completed the enrolment of 538 patients in the study. Initially only 408 patients were to be enrolled, but the company increased the size of the trial to conduct an appropriately powered subgroup analysis in patients with brain metastases from breast and NSCLC. The study was designed to demonstrate a 35% increase in median survival in the subgroup of patients compared with standard WBRT alone. The primary endpoint was survival. Allos began screening US patients for a phase III trial in NSCLC in early 2003. However, in May 2003, the company announced that as part of its revised operating plan it had suspended the screening of patients for this trial. The trial, which was known as ELITE (Enhanced Lung cancer treatment with Induction chemotherapy and Thoracic radiation and Efaproxiral), was comparing induction chemotherapy followed by thoracic radiation therapy with supplemental oxygen, with or without efaproxiral. The trial was enrolling patients with locally advanced, unresectable NSCLC. ELITE was planned to enrol up to 600 patients across North America and Western and Eastern Europe. Phase II trials in patients with inoperable NSCLC have been conducted in the US and Canada. Patient enrolment in one of these studies was completed in August 2000, with a total of 52 patients enrolled. This was an open-label, multicentre study of induction therapy with paclitaxel plus carboplatin followed by chest irradiation and efaproxiral in patients with locally advanced NSCLC. Positive results from this study were reported at the annual meeting of the European Society for Therapeutics Radiology and Oncology in September 2002. Efaproxiral has completed phase I trials as a treatment of surgical hypoxia in elective surgery patients receiving general anaesthesia. However, no recent development has been reported for these indications. In 1994, Allos signed an agreement with CIT for the exclusive worldwide rights to 17 US patents, a European patent covering the UK, France, Italy and Germany plus two pending patents in these territories, two issued patents in Japan, and a pending patent in Canada. These patents cover methods of allosterically modifying haemoglobin with efaproxiral and other compounds, the binding site of efaproxiral and therapy in certain indications including cancer, ischaemia and hypoxia. In addition to the licensed patents from CIT, Allos exclusively owns two patent families with pending applications directed to a formulation of efaproxiral and to methods of its use in BLOD MRI (blood oxygenation level-dependent magnetic resonance imaging) applications. These patents are pending in the US, Canada and Europe, and include an international patent application. In a May 2002 interview with the Wall Street Transcript, the CEO of Allos estimated the overall market for radiation therapy to be approximately 750 000 patients/year. Of this, brain metastases, NSCLC and glioblastoma therapy accounts for about 170 000, 140 000 and 6000 patients, respectively. Allos intend to use a speciality sales force to market efaproxiral directly to radiation therapists in North America. To penetrate the non-oncology market in the US, the company will seek partnership with one or more pharmaceutical companies with direct sales forces and with established distribution systems. Allos is also hoping to secure an oncology marketing partner for non-North American territories. At the time, the company had been issued 21 patents in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan.
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PMID:Efaproxiral: GSJ 61, JP 4, KDD 86, RS 4, RSR 13. 1586 22

Mutations that may predict response to adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP)-mimetic epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors occur in the EGFR kinase domain in lung adenocarcinomas and bronchioloalveolar carcinomas (BACs). Data on the frequency of EGFR mutations are sparse in other human tumors. Apart from the deletion mutant EGFRvIII, little is known about the frequency of mutations that encode for the EGFR extracellular domains II and IV that participate in receptor dimerization and formation of the tethered (autoinhibited) receptor conformation. We investigated 566 human neoplasms consisting of various histological types for mutations in exons 6, 7 (encode domain II), 14, 15 (domain IV), 18, 19, and 21 (the kinase domain) using denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC). Approximately 4,500 EGFR exons were screened for the presence of a mutation, and samples with an abnormal finding in DHPLC were sequenced. Only one mutation was found in the extracellular domain IV (glioblastoma), and none in domain II. Eight (11%) out of the 40 lung adenocarcinomas, or 33 BACs, investigated had exon 19 or 21 mutation in the kinase domain, but no mutations were found in other tumor types. Most of the lung cancers with mutated EGFR had three to six copies of the mutated gene in fluorescence in situ hybridization. We conclude that mutations of the EGFR kinase domain and the cysteine-rich extracellular domains are infrequent in most types of human cancer apart from lung adenocarcinoma. Mutated EGFR is usually not amplified in lung cancer.
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PMID:Epidermal growth factor receptor domain II, IV, and kinase domain mutations in human solid tumors. 1613 19

The major vault protein (MVP) is the main component of vaults, large ribonucleoprotein particles implicated in the regulation of cellular signaling cascades and multidrug resistance. Here, we identify MVP as an interferon gamma (IFN-gamma)-inducible protein. Treatment with IFN-gamma resulted in a significant upregulation of MVP promoter activity as well as mRNA and protein levels. Activation of MVP expression by IFN-gamma involved transcriptional upregulation through the JAK/STAT pathway based on an interaction of STAT1 with an interferon-gamma-activated site (GAS) within the proximal MVP promoter. Mutation of this site distinctly reduced basal as well as IFN-gamma-stimulated MVP transcription. IFN-gamma also significantly enhanced the translation rate of MVP. Ectopic MVP overexpression in the MVP-negative lung cancer cell model H65 led to a downregulation of three known IFN-gamma-regulated genes, namely ICAM-1, CD13 and CD36. Additionally, presence of MVP in H65 cells blocked both basal and IFN-gamma-induced ICAM-1 expression whereas downmodulation of endogenous MVP levels by shRNA enhanced IFN-gamma-induced ICAM-1 expression in U373 glioblastoma cells. MVP-mediated IFN-gamma insensitivity was accompanied by significantly reduced STAT1 phosphorylation at Y701 and diminished translocation of STAT1 into the nucleus. Summarizing, we identify MVP as an IFN-gamma-responsive gene interfering with IFN-gamma-activated JAK/STAT signals. These data further substantiate that the vault particle functions as a general interaction platform for cellular signaling cascades.
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PMID:The major vault protein is responsive to and interferes with interferon-gamma-mediated STAT1 signals. 1641 17

Acyloxyalkyl ester prodrugs of histone deacetylase inhibitors, a family of anti-cancer agents, are metabolized intracellularly to acids and aldehyde(s). The purpose of this study was to assess the in vitro and in vivo anticancer activity, selectivity and oral bioavailability of these prodrugs. The prodrugs exhibited a hierarchal potency of AN-193 > or = AN-7 > AN-1 and AN-9 >> AN-10 against murine lung carcinoma (3LLD122) and human breast carcinoma (MCF-7) cell lines. AN-9, and to even greater extent AN-7, displayed preferential cytotoxicity against leukemic and glioblastoma cells compared to their normal cellular counterparts-normal mononuclear and astrocytes cells, respectively. In vivo, anti-metastatic activity was evaluated in a metastatic model of lung cancer in which Lewis lung carcinoma (3LLD122) cells are injected intravenously into C57/BL mice and produce lung nodules. The prodrugs administered orally demonstrated a significant inhibition of lung-lesion formation and their hierarchal potency concurred with that observed in vitro, with the exception of AN-193 that was the least active compound. Escalating doses of AN-7 (5-100 mg/kg), administered by oral or intraperitoneal routes and displayed equivalent anti-metastatic activities, confirmed the good oral bioavailability of AN-7. Consistent with these findings, a time course study of histone acetylation in subcutaneously implanted 3LL122 tumors showed 2-4 fold increases in histone acetylation within 0.5 h of intravenous, intraperitoneal, or oral administration of AN-7 (100 mg/kg). Relative contributions of the prodrug metabolites to the anti-neoplastic activity and the best candidate for clinical studies are discussed.
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PMID:The selectivty and anti-metastatic activity of oral bioavailable butyric acid prodrugs. 1650 48

Various mono- and disaccharides were grafted onto a steroid backbone. Whereas in vitro these glycosylated steroids had no cytotoxic effects on six different human cancer cell lines, several of the glycosylated steroids under study did significantly modify the levels of in vitro migration of the human U373 glioblastoma, the A549 non-small-cell-lung cancer (NSCLC), and the PC-3 prostate cancer cells, with more pronounced effects in the case of a monosubstituted beta-L-fucopyranosyl-steroid (19), a monosubstituted beta-D-isomaltosyl-steroid (22), and a monosubstituted beta-D-lactosyl-steroid (24). These three compounds significantly increased the survival of conventional mice grafted subcutaneously with the P388 lymphoma, a lymphoma that metastasizes toward the liver. In vivo, the monosubstituted beta-D-lactosyl-steroid (24) also increased the antitumor effectiveness of cisplatin, a cytotoxic pro-apoptotic drug, in the case of the P388 lymphoma model. This compound also increased the survival of immunodeficient mice into whose brains human U373 glioblastoma cells had been orthotopically grafted.
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PMID:A lactosylated steroid contributes in vivo therapeutic benefits in experimental models of mouse lymphoma and human glioblastoma. 1650 95


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