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Rapid Report |
Departments of Neuro-Oncology (C.G.-M., J.F., J.X., C.A.C., J.F.G., W.K.A.Y.), Pathology (K.D.A.), and Biostatistics and Applied Mathematics (B.N.B.), The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY (J.H.); USA
Address correspondence to C. Gomez-Manzano, Department of Neuro-Oncology, Unit 1002, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX 77030, USA (cmanzano{at}mdanderson.org).
| Abstract |
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Key Words: glioblastoma therapy VEGF VEGF Trap
| Introduction |
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| Material and Methods |
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Drugs
VEGF Trap and human Fc (hFc, constant region of human IgG1) were kindly provided by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Tarrytown, NY, USA). Stocks of 50 mg/ml in aqueous solution were kept at –80°C.
In Vivo Experiments
The U-87 MG human glioma cells (5 x 105) were engrafted in the caudate nucleus of athymic mice (Harlan Sprague Dawley Inc., Indianapolis, IN, USA), as previously described.13 At 0, 4, and 10 days after cell implantation, we administered VEGF Trap (25 mg/kg subcutaneously, twice a week, for a total of 3 or 6 weeks) to separate groups of 10–15 animals per treatment bearing U-87 MG intracranial xenografts. Either phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) or hFc was blindly administered as a control agent in randomly selected subgroups of glioma-bearing animals. Animals showing generalized or local symptoms of disease were euthanized. Brains were fixed in 4% formaldehyde for 24 h and embedded in paraffin. Slides were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. All animal studies were performed in the veterinary facilities of The M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in accordance with institutional guidelines.
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays
Blood was collected from the tail vein of glioma-bearing mice 3 days after the initial dose of VEGF Trap, hFc, or vehicle, and VEGF Trap was quantified in the serum by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), as previously reported.16
Statistical Analyses
The in vivo anticancer effect of different treatments was assessed by plotting Kaplan-Meier survival curves, and treatment groups were compared using the log-rank test. The effects of VEGF Trap when administered in different treatment schedules were analyzed using a permutation test.
| Results and Discussion |
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To test the effect of VEGF Trap in the initial phases of the disease, we planned two different treatment schedules (Figs. 1 and 2) consisting of the subcutaneous administration of 25 mg/kg VEGF Trap twice weekly over 3 weeks, starting on either day 0 (schedule A) or day 4 (schedule B) after the intracranial implantation of human glioma cells in nude mice. Control groups were treated with PBS or hFc at doses and volumes similar to those used for the test drug. The agents were administered in a double-blinded manner; that is, the identity of the test groups was concealed from both the personnel preparing the drugs and the animal caretakers.
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Antiglioma Effect of VEGF Trap on Disease Burden
To test the effect of VEGF Trap on tumor burden, and based on our previous study of U-87 MG intracranial growth and angiogenesis, we decided to start treatment on day 10 after cell implantation in one subgroup of mice (Fig. 1, schedule CS). According to our previous studies, by day 10, increased microvascular density (MVD) was associated with exponential tumor growth and a decrease in the rate of induced angiogenesis within the host and the tumor periphery.13 Twelve days after implantation, the tumors consisted of spherical masses of cells with a high MVD and large, distorted, SMA-positive vessels. The tumor limits were clearly defined, and the cancer cells did not exhibit the invasive pattern into host tissue seen in preceding days.13
In the present study, glioma cells were implanted intracranially, and 10 days later, VEGF Trap was administered subcutaneously at a dose of 25 mg/kg twice weekly for 3 weeks. Control groups were treated with PBS or hFc at doses and volumes similar to those of the test drug. Treatment of the glioma-bearing animals with VEGF Trap resulted in a significant increase in the survival of these animals (p < 0.005) (Fig. 3A). In particular, the median overall survival of control-treated (PBS or hFc) animals was 31 days, with all the animals dead by day 33, whereas the mean survival of VEGF Trap-treated animals was 45 days. We observed no significant difference in the effect of VEGF Trap on prolonging survival at different stages of the disease (comparing effects of schedules A and B with schedule CS) (p > 0.1, permutation test), suggesting that VEGF Trap can be similarly effective in both the initial and burden disease stage. These data further suggest that targeting circulating levels of VEGF is equally effective in challenging tumor growth under both initial and established tumoral vasculature phases.
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Antiglioma Effect of Prolonged VEGF Trap Treatment
We next explored the effect in vivo of more prolonged VEGF Trap treatment. In this experiment, animals bearing intracranial human gliomas were treated with VEGF Trap (25 mg/kg) twice weekly for 6 weeks starting on day 10 after cell implantation (Fig. 1, schedule CL). Control animals were treated with vehicle or hFc (25 mg/kg) twice weekly until they showed signs of disease, at which time they were euthanized according to institutional regulations. Animals treated with VEGF Trap for 6 weeks survived longer than did animals treated with hFc (median overall survival, 55 days and 21 days, respectively; Fig. 3B) (p < 0.0001). We also analyzed the difference in median survival times between the animals treated with VEGF Trap for 6 weeks and those treated for 3 weeks. Using the permutation test and after adjusting for overall survival on PBS-treated groups, we found the increase in survival obtained with the 6-week VEGF Trap treatment to be significantly greater than the increase in survival obtained with the 3-week treatment (p < 0.05). These data suggest that VEGF Trap is more effective in prolonging overall survival when administered in a prolonged treatment schedule.
Histological Examination of VEGF Trap-Treated Tumors
Microscopic analysis of histological sections from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded brains revealed that control- and VEGF Trap-treated animals eventually suffered from the lethal growth of their tumors. Because of previous studies describing that treatment with antiangiogenic agents may result in intracranial hemorrhages or enhance tumor invasion,2,17 we specifically examined the tumors for the presence of these adverse effects. Histological examination of the brains of the cohorts treated for 3 weeks did not reveal either phenomenon. Treated U-87 MG-derived tumors displayed a very well-defined border with the normal host parenchyma (Fig. 4A). However, examination of the brains of animals that received prolonged treatment (6 weeks) of VEGF Trap, which survived longer than those treated on a 3-week schedule, revealed the signs of mass effect and the presence of the so-called "secondary structures" or "satellitosis" consisting of aggregations of glioma cells in the perivascular regions, as well as the presence of glioma cells along the Virchow-Robin spaces (Fig. 4B). These data suggest that U-87 MG-derived xenografts acquired an invasive phenotype in response to anti-VEGF therapy. These results are in agreement with a similar pattern of growth of intracranial G55 xenografts in animals treated with an antibody against mouse VEGFR-2, DC101,17 or a neutralizing VEGF antibody.18 These results may be likewise in agreement with those from clinical trials in patients with cancer treated with VEGF inhibitors, in that they survived longer but eventually exhibited resistance to the treatment.19,20 Of importance, the model described here offers us the possibility of testing combined therapies designed to counteract the emergence of a resistant phenotype to anti-VEGF therapies.
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Taken together, our data show that treatment with VEGF Trap significantly prolonged the survival of glioma xenograft-bearing mice. Of great interest, initial/residual disease and disease burden were both similarly affected by the antiangiogenesis treatment. In addition, the prolonged use of VEGF Trap (over 6 weeks) improved outcomes significantly more than did treatment administered in a short schedule (over 3 weeks).
The traits for personalized medicine are emerging for the treatment of brain tumors, and they will need to take into consideration the highly heterogeneous nature of these tumors.1,21 However, the fact that all brain tumor subtypes rely on blood vessels for survival and growth indicates the broad applicability of this strategy. Thus, our report provides data that encourage the testing of VEGF Trap in patients with recurrent malignant gliomas, and in this regard, results from a multicenter study consisting of a phase II clinical trial of VEGF Trap in patients with recurrent gliomas will soon be available. Finally, we suggest that VEGF Trap should also be considered for the treatment of patients after extensive surgery, which we would regard as carrying minimal residual disease, in combination with therapies targeting the migratory and invasive properties of gliomas.
| Acknowledgments |
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J.H. is currently at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA.
Received for publication April 7, 2008. Accepted for publication June 4, 2008.
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