title: Concomitant treatment with pertussis toxin plus temozolomide increases the survival of rats bearing intracerebral RG2 glioma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Glioblastoma multiforme is the most frequent primary brain tumor, it has poor prognosis, and it remains refractory to current treatment. The success of temozolomide (TMZ) appears to be limited by the occurrence of chemoresistance. Recently, we report the use of pertussis toxin as adjuvant immunotherapy in a C6 glioma model; showing a decrease in tumoral size, it induced selective cell death in Treg cells, and it elicited less infiltration of tumoral macrophages. Here, we evaluated the cytotoxic effect of pertussis toxin in combination with TMZ for glioma treatment, both in vitro and in vivo RG2 glioma model.
  
  
  METHODS
  We determined cell viability, cell cycle, apoptosis, and autophagy on treated RG2 cells through flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, and Western blot assays. Twenty-eight rats were divided in four groups (n = 7) for each treatment. After intracranial implantation of RG2 cells, animals were treated with TMZ (10 mg/Kg/200 μl of apple juice), PTx (2 μg/200 μl of saline solution), and TMZ + PTx. Animals without treatment were considered as control.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found an induction of apoptosis in around 20 % of RG2 cells, in both single treatments and in their combination. Also, we determined the presence of autophagy vesicles, without any modifications in the cell cycle in the TMZ - PTx-treated groups. The survival analyses showed an increase due to individual treatments; while in the group treated with the combination TMZ - PTx, this effect was enhanced.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We show that the concomitant use of pertussis toxin plus TMZ could represent an advantage to improve the glioma treatment.
authors: Neuroimmunology and Neuro-Oncology Unit, Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía (INNN), Insurgentes Sur 3877, 14269, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: Roxana
authors: R
authors: Magaña-Maldonado
authors: Karen
authors: K
authors: Manoutcharian
authors: Norma Y
authors: NY
authors: Hernández-Pedro
authors: Edgar
authors: E
authors: Rangel-López
authors: Verónica
authors: V
authors: Pérez-De la Cruz
authors: César
authors: C
authors: Rodríguez-Balderas
authors: Julio
authors: J
authors: Sotelo
authors: Benjamín
authors: B
authors: Pineda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018906:Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D001343:Autophagy; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000187:drug effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D003606:Dacarbazine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005910:Glioma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D037342:Pertussis Toxin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D015996:Survival Rate; D000077204:Temozolomide
chemical_list: D018906:Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating; D003606:Dacarbazine; D037342:Pertussis Toxin; D000077204:Temozolomide