A novel approach in the treatment of neuroendocrine gastrointestinal tumors: Additive antiproliferative effects of interferon-and meta

• Published in: BMC cancer 2004-01, Vol.4
• Main Authors: Hoepfner, Michael, Sutter, Andreas P, Huether, Alexander, Ahnert-Hilger, Gudrun, Scheruebl, Hans
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1471-2407
• DOI: 10.1186/1471-2407-4-23

Background: Therapeutic options to effectively inhibit growth and spread of neuroendocrine gastrointestinal tumors are still limited. As both meta- iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) and interferon- (IFN) cause antineoplastic effects in neuroendocrine gastrointestinal tumor cells, we investigated the antiproliferative effects of the combination of IFN and non-radiolabeled MIBG in neuroendocrine gut STC-1 and pancreatic carcinoid BON tumor cells. Methods and results: IFN receptors were expressed in both models. IFN dose- and time-dependently inhibited the growth of both STC-1 and of BON tumor cells with IC sub(50)- values of 95 plus or minus 15 U/ml and 135 plus or minus 10 U/ml, respectively. Above 10 U/ml IFN induced apoptosis-specific caspase-3 activity in a time-dependent manner in either cell line and caused a dose-dependent arrest in the S-phase of the cell cycle. Furthermore, IFN induced cytotoxic effects in NE tumor cells. The NE tumor-targeted drug MIBG is selectively taken up via norepinephrine transporters, thereby specifically inhibiting growth in NE tumor cells. Intriguingly, IFN treatment induced an upregulation of norepinephrine transporter expression in neuroendocrine tumors cells, as determined by semi- quantitative RT-PCR. Co-application of sub-IC sub(50 )concentrations of IFN and MIBG led to additive growth inhibitory effects, which were mainly due to increased cytotoxicity and S-phase arrest of the cell cycle. Conclusions: Our data show that IFN exerts antiproliferative effects on neuroendocrine gastrointestinal tumor cells by inducing cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and cytotoxicity. The combination of IFN with the NE tumor-targeted agent MIBG leads to effective growth control at reduced doses of either drug. Thus, the administration of IFN alone and more so, in combination with MIBG, is a promising novel approach in the treatment of neuroendocrine gastrointestinal tumors.