Multiple courses of intratumoral Ad5CMV-p53 injection alone or in combination with intravenous administration of cisplatin were feasible and well tolerated in advanced NSCLC patients, and appeared to provide clinical benefit.
The human cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) plays a dominant role in the metabolism of numerous clinically useful drugs. Alterations in the activity or expression of this enzyme may account for a major part of the variation in drug responsiveness and toxicity. However, it is generally accepted that most of the known single nucleotide polymorphisms in the coding and 5'-flanking regions are not the main determinants for the large inter-individual variability of CYP3A4 expression and activity. We show that the allelic variation is critically involved in determining the individual total hepatic CYP3A4 mRNA level and metabolic capability. There exists a definite correlation between the total CYP3A4 mRNA level and allelic expression ratio, the relative transcript level ratio derived from the two alleles. Individuals with a low expression ratio, exhibiting a large difference of transcript level between the two alleles, revealed extremely low levels of total hepatic CYP3A4 mRNA, and thus low metabolic capability as assessed by testosterone 6beta-hydroxylation. These results present a new insight into the individualized CYP3A4-dependent pharmacotherapy and the importance of expression imbalance to human phenotypic diversity.
Hochu‑ekki‑to (HET), a Kampō herbal medicine composed of ten medicinal plants, is traditionally used to improve the general state of patients with malignant diseases such as cancer. Recent studies showed that HET had an anti‑cancer effect against several cancer cell lines in vitro by inducing apoptosis. However, high doses of HET may have cytotoxic effects attributed to saponins or detergent‑like compounds. Therefore, the present study used low doses of HET (50 µg/ml), which did not affect cell viability, to evaluate its synergistic anti‑cancer effects with cisplatin. HeLa cells were cultured for 24 h with 50 µg/ml HET, followed by cisplatin treatment for 24 h at various concentrations. Subsequently, the sensitivity of the cells to cisplatin was assessed using a colony survival and a crystal violet cell viability assay. Furthermore, cisplatin‑induced apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry. Proteins associated with cell viability and apoptosis, including phosphorylated (p‑)Akt, p53, B‑cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl‑2), Bcl‑2‑associated X protein (Bax) and active caspase‑3 were analyzed by immunoblotting. The present study revealed that cell survival was decreased and apoptosis was increased in HeLa cells pre‑treated with HET prior to cisplatin treatment compared with HET‑untreated cells. Furthermore, protein expression of p53 and active caspase‑3 was increased, while the expression of p‑Akt as well as the Bcl‑2/Bax ratio, an index of survival activity in cells, were decreased in the HET‑pre‑treated cells compared with those in HET‑untreated cells following incubation with cisplatin. In conclusion, the present study indicated that HET enhanced cisplatin‑induced apoptosis of HeLa cells and that the administration of HET may therefore be clinically beneficial alongside apoptosis‑inducing chemotherapy.
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