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MRI drug may improve cancer-killing ability of chemotherapy, study says
February 15, 2006A contrast agent currently used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), called mangafodipir, may increase the cancer-killing ability of some chemotherapy drugs while protecting normal cells, according to a study in the February 15 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute .
Many anticancer drugs work by increasing the levels of tumor cell hydrogen peroxide. Tumor cells are particularly sensitive to hydrogen peroxide and die as a result. However, certain enzymes in the body can work to protect cells from this kind of damage, rendering certain cancer drugs less effective. In addition, the drugs are toxic to normal cells. The drug mangafodipir, a contrast agent given to patients before they have an MRI, helps promote the production of hydrogen peroxide while at the same time, through different biologic mechanisms, protects healthy cells from the negative effects of oxidative damage.
Jérôme Alexandre, M.D., of the Groupe hospitalier Cochin-Saint Vincent de Paul in Paris, and colleagues exposed tumor cells and white blood cells from 10 cancer patients and white blood cells from six control subjects to three chemotherapy drugs-paclitaxel, oxaliplatin, and 5-fluorouracil-in the presence or absence of mangafodipir. They also studied the effects of mangafodipir on colon cancer cells in mice treated with paclitaxel.
The authors found that mangafodipir protected the white blood cells taken from healthy volunteers and from cancer patients. The drug also protected paclitaxel-treated mice from infection that would cause a lowered white blood cell count and helped increase the cancer cell-killing ability of the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel against the cancer cells in mice.
"Our results support investigation of the use of mangafodipir in cancer patients, because mangafodipir may enhance the therapeutic index of anticancer agents by both protecting normal cells and increasing antitumoral activity of these agents," the authors write. "The safety of mangafodipir administered as a contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging has already been demonstrated."
In an accompanying editorial, James H. Doroshow, M.D., of the National Cancer Institute, suggests that clinical trials may be the next approach for studies of drugs such as mangafodipir that affect oxidative stress in tumor cells. He writes, "Overall, this study contributes to our rapidly developing understanding of tumor cell [oxidation-reduction] balance and to the possibility that therapeutic approaches to the modulation of oxidant-mediated growth control may be possible in the near future, perhaps with mangafodipir or with other [oxidation-reduction] modulators in development."
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
The authors found that mangafodipir protected the white blood cells taken from healthy volunteers and from cancer patients. The drug also protected paclitaxel-treated mice from infection that would cause a lowered white blood cell count and helped increase the cancer cell-killing ability of the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel against the cancer cells in mice.
"Our results support investigation of the use of mangafodipir in cancer patients, because mangafodipir may enhance the therapeutic index of anticancer agents by both protecting normal cells and increasing antitumoral activity of these agents," the authors write. "The safety of mangafodipir administered as a contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging has already been demonstrated."
In an accompanying editorial, James H. Doroshow, M.D., of the National Cancer Institute, suggests that clinical trials may be the next approach for studies of drugs such as mangafodipir that affect oxidative stress in tumor cells. He writes, "Overall, this study contributes to our rapidly developing understanding of tumor cell [oxidation-reduction] balance and to the possibility that therapeutic approaches to the modulation of oxidant-mediated growth control may be possible in the near future, perhaps with mangafodipir or with other [oxidation-reduction] modulators in development."
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
Chemotherapy Current Events and Chemotherapy News RSSNew cancer target for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Physician-scientists from Weill Cornell Medical College have discovered a molecular mechanism that may prove to be a powerful target for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects lymphocytes, or white blood cells.
Fertility procedures need not delay breast cancer treatment for younger women
A new study published in the November issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons shows that breast cancer patients under 40 years old who undergo fertility preservation do not face a significant delay in the treatment of their disease when their care is coordinated in a timely fashion.
Drugs to treat anemia in cancer patients linked to thromboembolism
Medications frequently given to cancer patients to reduce their risk of anemia are associated with an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, according to new research led by Dawn Hershman, M.D, M.S., co-director of the breast cancer program at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.
For young boys with cancer, testicular tissue banking may be option to preserve fertility
For parents of children with cancer, the hopeful news is that pediatric survival rates have steadily improved for decades. Among the bad news-treatments that enable survival often cause infertility.
FDA approved leukemia drugs shows promise in ovarian cancer cells
The drug Sprycel, approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia, significantly inhibited the growth and invasiveness of ovarian cancer cells and also promoted their death, a study by researchers with UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center found.
1930s drug slows tumor growth
Drugs sometimes have beneficial side effects. A glaucoma treatment causes luscious eyelashes. A blood pressure drug also aids those with a rare genetic disease.
First use of antibody and stem cell transplantation to successfully treat advanced leukemia
For the first time, researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have reported the use of a radiolabeled antibody to deliver targeted doses of radiation, followed by a stem cell transplant, to successfully treat a group of leukemia and pre-leukemia patients for whom there previously had been no other curative treatment options.
New Synthetic Molecules Trigger Immune Response to HIV and Prostate Cancer
Researchers at Yale University have developed synthetic molecules capable of enhancing the body's immune response to HIV and HIV-infected cells, as well as to prostate cancer cells. Their findings, published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could lead to novel therapeutic approaches for these diseases.
Chemo-radiation before prostate removal may prevent cancer recurrence
Researchers in the Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute and the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center have found a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy given before prostate removal is safe and may have the potential to reduce cancer recurrence and improve patient survival.
PMH finding may help some tonsil cancer patients avoid chemotherapy
Clinical researchers at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) have confirmed that patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer ("tonsil cancer") harbour a common type of human papilloma virus (HPV16), but also that such cancers are very sensitive to radiation.
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