Inhibition of the mevalonate pathway augments the activity of pitavastatin against ovarian cancer cells.

Sci Rep

Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine, Guy Hilton Research Centre, Keele University, Thornborrow Drive, Stoke-on-Trent, UK.

Published: August 2017

AI Article Synopsis

  • About 40% of patients with advanced ovarian cancer survive beyond 5 years, prompting research into effective treatments.
  • Previous studies indicate that pitavastatin can reduce ovarian cancer growth in mice, leading to further investigation on its effectiveness when combined with other drugs like zoledronic acid and GGTI-2133.
  • The findings show that pitavastatin combined with zoledronic acid enhances the anticancer effects by improving cell sensitivity, suggesting this combination could be a promising option for treating ovarian cancer.

Article Abstract

Only 40% of patients with advanced ovarian cancer survive more than 5 years. We have previously shown that pitavastatin induces regression of ovarian cancer xenografts in mice. To evaluate whether the response of ovarian cancer cells to pitavastatin is potentiated by farnesyl diphosphate synthase inhibitors or geranylgeraniol transferase I inhibitors, we evaluated combinations of pitavastatin with zoledronic acid, risedronate and GGTI-2133 in a panel of ovarian cancer cells. Pitavastatin (IC = 0.6-14 μM), zoledronic acid (IC = 21-57 μM), risedronate (IC > 100 μM) or GGTI-2133 (IC > 25 μM) inhibited the growth of ovarian cancer cell cultures. Combinations of pitavastatin with zoledronic acid displayed additive or synergistic effects in cell growth assays in 10 of 11 cell lines evaluated as well as in trypan blue exclusion, cellular ATP or caspase 3/7, 8 and 9 assays. Pitavastatin reduced levels of GGT-IIβ and the membrane localization of several small GTPases and this was potentiated by zoledronic acid. siRNA to GGT-Iβ and GGT-IIβ used in combination, but not when used individually, significantly increased the sensitivity of cells to pitavastatin. These data suggest that zoledronic acid, a drug already in clinical use, may be usefully combined with pitavastatin in the treatment of ovarian cancer.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5556066PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08649-9DOI Listing

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