New Agents for Taxol-Resistant Breast Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Taxol has proven to be very active in breast cancer; however, evidence for resistance to Taxol has emerged. One approach to overcoming drug resistance involves drug copolymers. The paclitaxel copolymer, PGA-TXL, has shown both reduced toxicity and greater tumor localization in animal models. It has also demonstrated reduced toxicity and greater ease of administration compared to Taxol in the clinic, and has shown activity in patients with Taxol-refractory tumors. MDA-MB-361 human breast adenocarcinoma cells were implanted orthotopically in the mammary fat pad of female nude mice. When tumor volumes reached 20 mm3, one group was treated with pGA-TXL, 180 mg/kg i.p. Two other groups received a multiple-dose regimen of either S or 10 mg/kg Taxol, i.p. Control tumor volumes increased 5.89+1- 0.43-fold (mean +1- SEM) over the next 35 days. Treatment with PGA-TXL was highly efficacious: the increase in tumor volumes in this group was 2.96+1- 0.31-fold during the same time period (p = 0.0006). The two Taxol-treated groups failed to demonstrate significant responses: tumor volumes increased 6.06+1- 0.25-fold (p = 0.74) and 4.29+1- 0.61 -fold (p = 0.101) for the 5 and 10 mglkg groups, respectively. The key results from this study indicates that even single-dose PGA-TXL is active against MDA-MB-3 61, an orthotopically-implanted human Her-2/neu over-expressing breast tumor model that is highly resistant to a multiple-dose regimen of Taxol. Our pre-clinical studies suggest that among the patients who could be considered for trials with PGA-TXL are those with tumors over-expressing HER-2/neu and refractory to conventional taxanes.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 2003
Accession Number
ADA420165

Entities

People

  • Jim Klostergeard

Organizations

  • University of Houston

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Adenocarcinoma
  • Apoptosis
  • Biomedical Research
  • Breast Cancer
  • Cancer
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Physiological Processes
  • Cells
  • Copolymers
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Drug Resistance
  • Glutamic Acid
  • Neoplasms
  • Programmed Cell Death
  • Resistance
  • Toxicity

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Oncology (Cancer Research).

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics