We demonstrated in this study that inhibition of intra-hepatic growth of
colon cancer by
TAC-101 is mediated by inhibition of angiogenesis. In vitro experiments showed that
TAC-101 inhibited the proliferation of murine hepatic sinusoidal endothelial (HSE) cells induced by coculture with murine colon 26-L5 (L5) cells. HSE cell proliferation was also enhanced by
conditioned medium of L5 cells (CM-L5), and this enhancement of proliferation was abrogated by anti-
vascular endothelial growth factor antibody. CM-L5 also induced in vitro tube formation of HSE cells on Matri-gel, and this activity of CM-L5 was abrogated by
TAC-101 in a concentration-dependent manner. On the other hand, p.o. administration of
TAC-101 inhibited
tumor-induced angiogenesis in vivo and decreased the weights of L5
tumors in the mouse liver.
Reverse transcriptase-PCR analysis using in vivo
tumor tissue suggested that repression of
vascular endothelial growth factor expression by
TAC-101 was associated with the antiangiogenic activity.
TAC-101 alone and
5-fluorouracil (5-FU)/D,L-
leucovorin (LV) significantly inhibited the intrahepatic growth of L5
tumors (P = 0.002 and 0.001, respectively), whereas
5-FU alone did not (P = 0.088). When
TAC-101 was administered with 5-FU/LV, marked enhancement of antitumor activity was observed (95% inhibition; P<0.001). This enhanced antitumor effect was also observed in experiments using Co-3 human
colon adenocarcinoma. Concurrent treatment with
TAC-101 and 5-FU/LV and sequential treatment with 5-FU/LV followed by
TAC-101 resulted in significant augmentation of antitumor activity against Co-3 (overall P = 0.007 and 0.015, respectively). These findings indicate that
TAC-101 inhibits
tumor angiogenesis and suggest that it may be effective against hepatic
metastasis of
colon cancer.