JOURNAL ARTICLE
RESEARCH SUPPORT, NON-U.S. GOV'T
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Preclinical in vivo evaluation of rapamycin in human malignant peripheral nerve sheath explant xenograft.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) patients are prone to the development of malignant tumors, the most common being Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor (MPNST). NF1-MPNST patients have an overall poor survival due to systemic metastasis. Currently, the management of MPNSTs includes surgery and radiation; however, conventional chemotherapy is not very effective, underscoring the need for effective biologically-targeted therapies. Recently, the NF1 gene product, neurofibromin, was shown to negatively regulate the phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K)/Protein Kinase-B (Akt)/mammalian Target Of Rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, with loss of neurofibromin expression in established human MPNST cell lines associated with high levels of mTOR activity. We developed and characterized a human NF1-MPNST explant grown subcutaneously in NOD-SCID mice, to evaluate the effect of the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin. We demonstrate that rapamycin significantly inhibited human NF1-MPNST mTOR pathway activation and explant growth in vivo at doses as low as 1.0 mg/kg/day, without systemic toxicities. While rapamycin was effective at reducing NF1-MPNST proliferation and angiogenesis, with decreased CyclinD1 and VEGF respectively, there was no increase in tumor apoptosis. Rapamycin effectively decreased activation of S6 downstream of mTOR, but there was accompanied increased Akt activation. This study demonstrates the therapeutic potential and limitations of rapamycin in NF1-associated, and likely sporadic, MPNSTs.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app