Al's Comment:
Aside from the mechanism of action these authors proposed, perhaps the theories about cytomegalovirus playing a role in GBMs are valid, and this drug also fights the CMV, just like Valcyte does.
Posted on: 12/19/2016
Oncogene. 2016 Dec 12. doi: 10.1038/onc.2016.457. [Epub ahead of print]
Use of an anti-viral drug, Ribavirin, as an anti-glioblastoma therapeutic.
Volpin F1, Casaos J1, Sesen J1,2, Mangraviti A1, Choi J1, Gorelick N1, Frikeche J1, Lott T1, Felder R1, Scotland SJ1, Eisinger-Mathason TS3, Brem H1, Tyler B1, Skuli N1,2.
Author information:
1Department of Neurosurgery, Hunterian Neurosurgical Research Laboratory, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
2INSERM U1037, Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Toulouse, CRCT, Toulouse, France.
3Department of Pathology, Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Abstract
The median survival for glioblastoma patients is ~15 months despite aggressive surgery and radio-chemotherapy approaches. Thus, developing new therapeutics is necessary to improve the treatment of these invasive brain tumors, which are known to show high levels of the eukaryotic initiation factor, eIF4E, a potent oncogene. Ribavirin, the only clinically approved drug known to target eIF4E, is an anti-viral molecule currently used in hepatitis C treatment. Here, we report the effect of ribavirin on proliferation, cell cycle, cell death and migration of several human and murine glioma cell lines, as well as human glioblastoma stem-like cells, in vitro. In addition, we tested ribavirin efficacy in vivo, alone and in combination with temozolomide and radiation. Our work showed that ribavirin inhibits glioma cell growth and migration, and increases cell cycle arrest and cell death, potentially through modulation of the eIF4E, EZH2 and ERK pathways. We also demonstrate that ribavirin treatment in combination with temozolomide or irradiation increases cell death in glioma cells. Finally and most importantly, ribavirin treatment in vivo significantly enhances chemo-radiotherapy efficacy and improves survival of rats and mice orthotopically implanted with gliosarcoma tumors or glioma stem-like cells, respectively. On the basis of these results, we propose that ribavirin represents a new therapeutic option for glioblastoma patients as an enhancer of the cytotoxic effects of temozolomide and radiotherapy.Oncogene advance online publication, 12 December 2016; doi:10.1038/onc.2016.457.
PMID: 27941882 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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