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Bisphosphonates boost chemo drugs doxorubicin and vincristine against

By Hafeman, S D et al.·Published in Veterinary and comparative oncology·2012·Department of Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed

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Original publication title: Bisphosphonates significantly increase the activity of doxorubicin or vincristine against canine malignant histiocytosis cells.

Species:
dog
LymphomaBehaviour & energyDogs

Plain-English summary

A study found that certain medications called bisphosphonates can help improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs for dogs with malignant histiocytosis, a serious type of cancer. In tests with cancer cells, combining a bisphosphonate called clodronate with the chemotherapy drug vincristine showed better results in killing cancer cells. Another bisphosphonate, zoledronate, also worked well with doxorubicin, another chemotherapy drug, by helping more of it enter the cancer cells. These findings suggest that using bisphosphonates alongside traditional chemotherapy could be a promising treatment option for dogs battling this aggressive cancer.

People also search for: dog malignant histiocytosis treatment · bisphosphonates for dogs cancer · vincristine and doxorubicin for dog cancer

Abstract

Canine malignant histiocytosis (MH) is an aggressive neoplasm of macrophages and dendritic cells. It carries a poor prognosis because of the development of widespread metastasis and poor sensitivity to chemotherapy. Thus, there is a large need for new treatments for MH. We hypothesized that bisphosphonates might be useful to increase the effectiveness of cytotoxic chemotherapy against MH. To address this question, we conducted in vitro screening studies using MH cell lines and a panel of 6 chemotherapy and 5 bisphosphonate drugs. The combination of clodronate with vincristine was found to elicit synergistic killing which was associated with a significant increase in cell cycle arrest. Second, zoledronate combined with doxorubicin also significantly increased cell killing. Zoledronate significantly increased the uptake of doxorubicin by MH cells. On the basis of these findings, we conclude that certain bisphosphonate drugs may increase the overall effectiveness of chemotherapy for MH in dogs.

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Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22236140/