Antagonists of GHRH and BN/GRP alone or in combination significantly inhibited growth of PC-3 and DU-145 tumors, the greatest inhibition of tumor volume being achieved by combination of MZ-J-7-118 (5 microg/day) and RC-3940-II (10 microg/day).
The cytotoxic analog of bombesin (BN)/gastrin releasing peptide (GRP) AN-215 consisting of 2-pyrrolinodoxorubicin (AN-201), a superactive derivative of doxorubicin linked to a bombesin analog carrier, displays a high affinity to BN/GRP receptors and can be targeted to tumors that express these receptors.
In particular, analogues of the tetradecapeptide bombesin (BN) have been radiolabeled with (99m)Tc and (111)In for detection of GRPR-positive tumors by gamma ray scintigraphy.
Previous studies showed that antagonists of bombesin (BN)/gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) inhibit the growth of various cancers by interfering with the growth-stimulatory effects of BN-like peptides and down-regulating epidermal growth factor receptors on tumors.
Immunohistochemically, the tumor was positive for the MIC2 gene product, whereas AE1/AE3, CAM5.2, and a variety of neuroendocrine markers such as chromogranin A, synaptophysin, and ProGRP, were negative.
The expression of GRP receptors was characterized at the mRNA level by reverse transcription-PCR, as well as at the protein level by binding of (125)I-[Tyr(4)] bombesin to membranes prepared from tumor tissue (K(d) 0.3 nM) and healthy kidney tissue from the same four patients.
The authors investigated the effects of synthetic BN/GRP antagonists RC-3095 and RC-3940-II on tumor growth and the expression of mRNA for EGF receptors and three BN receptor subtypes in MDA-MB-468 human breast carcinoma.
5 days after tumor cell inoculation, followed by an i.p. injection of [(111)In]-DTPA-D-Phe1-octreotide 2 days later, showed a range of 15.3-60.4% median injected dose/gram (ID/g) in tumor at 4 h after injection compared with 3.5% ID/g when [125I]-Tyr1-somatostatin was administered and 0.3% ID/g when the negative control peptide [125I]-mIP-bombesin was administered.
Interference with receptors for BN/GRP, LH-RH, or EGF might provide a therapeutic approach to inhibit tumor growth of androgen-independent prostate cancer.
The human ovarian carcinoma cell line SKOV3.ip1 was chosen for in vivo analysis of radiolabeled bombesin analogue tumor localization in biodistribution and pharmacokinetic studies in athymic nude mice.
The bombesin-like peptides can function as autocrine growth factors in lung cancer and candidate tumor suppressor genes on chromosomes 3 and 9 play important roles in lung cancer.
The bombesin (BN)-like peptides mediate a diverse spectrum of biological activities and have been implicated as autocrine growth factors in the pathogenesis and progression of some human small cell lung carcinoma tumors.