Hj. Muenchen et al., The study of gemcitabine in combination with other chemotherapeutic agentsas an effective treatment for prostate cancer, ANTICANC R, 20(2A), 2000, pp. 735-740
Background: Gemcitabine has demonstrated clinical activity against several
common cancers. Our studies examine the ability of gemcitabine, both alone
and in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents, to inhibit the in vi
tro and in vivo growth of several prostate cancer cell lines. Materials and
Methods: Cultures es of LNCaP, PC-3 or MLL cells were exposed to either ge
mcitabine ol other appropriate agents for specified amounts of lime. Cells
were lysed and nuclei counted utilizing a Coulter Counter For in vivo exper
iments, animals were injected with I x 10(5) MLL cells subcutaneously into
the right flank. Animals were treated as indicated for 14 days. Tumors were
then excised, weighed and measured. Results: In both human (PC-3 and LNCaP
) and rat prostate (MLL). cancer cell lines our studies demonstrated gemcit
abine had a strong effect in vitro, with an IC50 of approximately 500 nM in
the human lines and 10 nM in MLL cells. In vivo, studies using the Dunning
prostate cancel model in Copenhagen rats resulted in a dose response inhib
ition of tumor growth, with an 80% decrease in tumor size in rats treated w
ith gemcitabine at 10 mg/kg. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated the pote
nt activity of gemcitabine against prostate cancer in the Dunning rat model
and suggest the addition of paclitaxel may not aid in this activity.