PURPOSE Combination therapies that target the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) pathways, are being actively tested for the treatment of cancer. In evaluating combination strategies, the ideal combination would be one in which the treatments interact in a way that is synergistic with regard to antitumor effects. Here, we have evaluat...

Bendamustine has shown considerable clinical activity against indolent lymphoid malignancies as a single agent or in combination with rituximab, but combination with additional anti-cancer drugs may be required for refractory and/or relapsed cases as well as other intractable tumors. In this study, we attempted to determine suitable anti-cancer drugs to be combined with bendamustine for the tre...

The effects of vincristine (VCR) in combination with methotrexate (MTX) and other antitumor agents were evaluated by cell growth inhi bition assay using a human acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell line (MOLT-3). The data were analyzed with the aid of an isobologram using the concept of an envelope of additivity (G. G. Steel and M. J. Peckman, Int. J. Radiât.Oncol., 5: 85-91, 1979). Simultaneous ...

Similar to arsenic trioxide (As2O3), tetra-arsenic oxide (As4O6, TAO) has shown anti-proliferative and apoptosis-inducing effects against human leukemic and solid tumor cells. In order to assess the increase in efficacy, we evaluated the combinatory interaction of TAO combined with paclitaxel, 5-FU or cisplatin and studied its mechanism of action in the cell lines of human gastric, cervix and h...

PURPOSE When evaluated in patients with ovarian and other cancer, vintafolide (EC145), a potent folate-targeted vinca alkaloid conjugate, displayed a toxicity profile that seemed to be nonoverlapping with many standard-of-care cancer therapeutics. It was, therefore, hypothesized that combining vintafolide with certain approved anticancer drugs may afford greater therapeutic efficacy compared wi...

Claims of synergy between etoposide and cisplatin have been based upon preclinical in vìvomurine P388 models or upon human clinical trials in tumors such as lung cancer. Such in vivo studies are useful in exploring therapeutic synergy, i.e., an improved therapeutic strategy. The term "synergy" in this context is sometimes, however, taken to imply greater than additive kill of tumor cells. Unfo...

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is one of the most common neurocutaneous disorders. Some NF1 patients develop benign large plexiform neurofibroma(s) at birth, which can then transform into a malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST). There is no curative treatment for this rapidly progressive and easily metastatic neurofibrosarcoma. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been developed as an anti-...

The detection of molecular targeted agents is a milestone in cancer treatment. Despite the achievements, the efficacy of single targeted agents in combination with radiotherapy is limited by putative treatment resistance. We therefore tested a rationally designed triple therapy consisting of an agonistic antibody against either TRAIL-R1 (mapatumumab/HGS-ETR1) or TRAIL-R2 (lexatumumab/HGS-ETR2) ...

BACKGROUND Emergence of chloroquine (CQ) resistance among different strains of Plasmodium falciparum is the worst catastrophe that has ever perplexed the dedicated efforts to eradicate malaria. This urged the scientists to search for new alternatives or sensitizers to augment its antiplasmodium effect. MATERIALS AND METHOD In this experiment, the potential of embelin, isolated from Embelia ri...

We have previously demonstrated (L. Z. Rubsam et al., Cancer Res., 59: 669-675, 1999) that low ganciclovir (GCV) triphosphate (TP) levels similar to cellular deoxynucleotide concentrations can induce multilog killing in cells stably expressing herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK). In this study, we evaluated whether reducing the endogenous competitor of GCV-TP, dGTP, enhanced GCV-medi...