Skin Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Skin Cancer, including details on identification, causes, prevention, treatment. | ||||||||
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Thalidomide enhances the anti-tumor activity of standard chemotherapy in a human melanoma xenotransplatation model.Heere-Ress E, Boehm J, Thallinger C, Hoeller C, Wacheck V, Birner P, Wolff K, Pehamberger H, Jansen B Department of Dermatology, Division of General Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria. Elisabeth.Heere-Rees@akh-wien.ac.at It has been demonstrated that thalidomide's anti-angiogenic properties result in clear anti-tumor activity in a number of human malignancies. We studied thalidomide in a human melanoma severe combined immunodeficiency mouse xenotransplantation model. Thalidomide as a single agent showed a significant tumor reduction of 46% compared with the control group. Thalidomide combined with dacarbazine treatment markedly enhanced the anti-tumor effect of chemotherapy and showed a significant tumor reduction relative to the dacarbazine-only group (61%) and even more tumor reduction (74%) compared with the control group. We also measured clearly reduced levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in the thalidomide-treated group. A significantly lower microvessel density was encountered in the thalidomide treatment groups (thalidomide alone or combined with DTIC), underscoring the anti-angiogenic effect of thalidomide as a single agent as well as in combination with chemotherapy in this model. In line with these results, we observed a nearly 3-fold increase of apoptosis for the combination of thalidomide and DTIC compared with the rate of apoptotic cells in DTIC-only-treated melanoma xenotransplants. These data underline the rationale for combining dacarbazine--a cytotoxic agent--and thalidomide--an anti-angiogenic cytostatic agent--as a promising strategy for the treatment of melanoma. Published 15 August 2005 in J Invest Dermatol, 125(2): 201-6.
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