title: Antitumor activity of new anthracycline analogues in combination with interferon alfa.
abstract: Combinations of recombinant interferon alfa2 (IFN-alpha 2) with doxorubicin, 4'-epidoxorubicin, 4'-deoxydoxorubicin, or 4-demethoxydaunorubicin were tested for antiproliferative activity against a panel of human tumor cell lines in a human tumor clonogenic assay. The histologies of the cell lines were ovary, cervix, breast, and melanoma. Each of the cytotoxic compounds showed dose-dependent antiproliferative effects against each of the cell lines, and the results indicated that doxorubicin derivatives were consistently more potent than the parent drug. In all instances, 4-demethoxydaunorubicin was the most potent derivative, requiring 2-20 times less drug to inhibit 70% of tumor colony formation. Combinations of IFN-alpha 2, with doxorubicin or its derivatives may show additive or synergistic antiproliferative activity against certain tumor cell lines. The ovarian carcinoma cell line, BG-1, responded synergistically to each of the four compounds in combination with IFN-alpha 2. The cervical carcinoma cell line, CaSki, and the breast carcinoma line, MCF-7, responded to the combinations in a manner best described as additive. In the melanoma line, SK-Mel-28, the drugs were found to be subadditive or even antagonistic. While the potency of the anthracycline derivatives ranked consistently across the different cell lines, the synergistic interaction with IFN-alpha 2 is a cell line-specific phenomenon unrelated to sensitivity to either anthracyclines or interferon.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Berens
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Welander
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Modest
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line / Q000187:drug effects; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D003630:Daunorubicin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004357:Drug Synergism; D015251:Epirubicin; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015255:Idarubicin; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014410:Tumor Stem Cell Assay
chemical_list: D007370:Interferon Type I; D015251:Epirubicin; D004317:Doxorubicin; C030851:esorubicin; D015255:Idarubicin; D003630:Daunorubicin