Combinatorial chemoprevention of intestinal neoplasia

A combination of two drugs afforded remarkable protection from intestinal n eoplasia in APC(Min/+) mice, a murine model of human familial adenomatous p olyposis (FAP). One of the drugs was sulindac, a prototypical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug with established chemopreventative activity. The se cond drug was EKI-569, a newly developed, irreversible inhibitor of the epi dermal growth factor receptor kinase. Although 100% of the untreated APC(Mi n/+) mice developed -20 polyps, nearly half the mice treated with these two agents developed no polyps at all. These results suggest a powerful strate gy for the chemoprevention of human colonic neoplasia.