Conclusion
These results indicate that both Apo2L/TRAIL-sensitive and -resistant colon tumors will respond to a combination of CPT-11 and Apo2L/TRAIL and predict that this will be useful in the treatment of human colon cancers in a clinical setting.
Methods
To gain further insight into the antitumor potential of Apo2L/TRAIL in combination with chemotherapy, we compared the responses of 2 human colon adenocarcinomas, both of which were sensitive to CPT-11 while one was sensitive and the other comparatively resistant to Apo2L/TRAIL.
Objective
The ability to sustain and grow portions of human tumors as xenografts in SCID mice provides a valuable preclinical opportunity to test the response of human tumors to treatments, both individually and in combination. Using this model, our laboratory has previously demonstrated that the growth of several human adenocarcinomas can be inhibited by Apo2L/TRAIL. Apo2L/TRAIL triggers apoptosis in many types of tumor cells, and when combined with various chemotherapeutic agents
Results
In both cases, a greater degree of growth inhibition was achieved when these agents were used in combination. Western blot analysis demonstrated that in the Apo2L/TRAIL-sensitive tumor total cellular expression of Apo2L/TRAIL death receptors (DR4 and DR5) as well as protein expression of the pro-apoptotic molecule BAX were higher and the anti-apoptotic molecule Bcl-2 was lower in comparison to the Apo2L/TRAIL-resistant tumor.