title: Designing ageing conditions in tumour microenvironment-a new possible modality for cancer treatment.
abstract: While tumour incidence is known to augment with age, paradoxically tumour growth and metastasis were often found to proceed at a slower rate at late ages. This age-related biological behaviour of tumours actually imposes a differential therapeutic approach to the old cancer patient. Several mechanisms of the age-related reduced tumour progression have been demonstrated: decreased tumour cell proliferation, increased apoptotic cell death, decreased angiogenesis and anti-tumoural immune response changes. We postulated that it might be possible to design age-adjusted treatment modalities based on the mechanisms responsible for the reduced tumour progression rate in the aged. Based on these mechanisms, we compared the effect of different treatments (apoptosis-inducing agents, Hydrocortisone and Adriamycin, anti-angiogenic agent, TNP-470, and immunomodulators-Levamisole and BCG) on two experimental tumours (B16 melanoma and AKR lymphoma) growing in young and old mice. Most treatments showed, in both tumours, a higher inhibitory effect on tumours growing in old mice than on those developing in young ones, to our knowledge, a feature not described before for anti-tumoural agents. We suggest that designing ageing conditions in tumours of young patients might possibly alleviate neoplastic aggressiveness in these patients as well.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, 69978 Tel-Aviv, Israel. jlebov@post.tau.ac.il
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leibovici
authors.forename: Orit
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Itzhaki
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kaptzan
authors.forename: Ehud
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Skutelsky
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sinai
authors.forename: Moshe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Michowitz
authors.forename: Raida
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Asfur
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Siegal
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huszar
authors.forename: Ginnette
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schiby
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D008545:Melanoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D051379:Mice; D008806:Mice, Inbred AKR; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents