In vitro vascular tube formation testing as a tool for treatment individualisation in patients with cervical cancer

Solveig Landt*, Harald Heidecke, Susanne Korlach, Cora Reuter, Ilka Schwidde, Jana Barinoff, Marc Thill, Jalid Sehouli, Sherko Kümmel

*Corresponding author for this work
5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background/Aim: Targeted tumour therapies are promising, but their results in unselected patient populations are modest and tumour growth and metastasis may be promoted rather than suppressed in some cases. The present study investigates the suitability of vascular in vitro tube formation as a tool for the identification of cervical neoplasms that will respond to bevacizumab therapy. Patients and Methods: Fifteen patients with recurrent cervical cancer selected from the ongoing cervical cancer monitoring database of the Charité University Hospital Berlin, Germany, were included. Information obtained from the database included tumour stage, malignancy grade, presence of nodal metastases, lymph vessel invasion, patient age and menopausal status and serum concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), endostatin and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGF-R1). Vascular tube formation was assessed with cultured human umbilical vein epithelial cells. Results: Five patients showed a positive, 5 an inverse and 5 no in vitro response to bevacizumab. Tube length showed a marked and significant dependency on bevacizumab response. Besides tube length, VEGF-R1 concentration was the only variable with some correlation to bevacizumab response, with high levels especially for inverse responders. Conclusion: The identification of patients with a likely benefit from targeted therapies is crucial. Tube formation shows substantial potential, but its utility needs to be confirmed in studies on the clinical rather than in vitro response to bevacizumab.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAnticancer Research
Volume31
Issue number8
Pages (from-to)2609-2615
Number of pages7
ISSN0250-7005
Publication statusPublished - 01.08.2011

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'In vitro vascular tube formation testing as a tool for treatment individualisation in patients with cervical cancer'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this