Inhibition of PC-3 human androgen-independent prostate cancer and its metastases by cytotoxic somatostatin analogue AN-238.

We evaluated whether AN-238, the cytotoxic analogue of somatostatin (SST) consisting of the radical 2-pyrrolinodoxorubicin (AN-201) linked covalently to the SST octapeptide carrier RC-121 (D-Phe-Cys-Tyr-D-Trp-Lys-Val-Cys-Thr-NH2), could be used for targeting human primary and metastatic prostate carcinomas that express SST receptors (SSTRs). The antitumor activity and toxicity of AN-238 and its components were first characterized in nude mice bearing s.c. xenografts of PC-3 human androgen-independent prostate cancer. In experiment 1, AN-238 was injected once i.v. at 200 nmol/kg when the mean volume of s.c. tumors was about 30 mm3. Administration of AN-238 inhibited tumor growth, as shown by a 74% decrease in tumor volume and by a 71% reduction in tumor weight after 7 weeks as compared with the control group. AN-201 at an equimolar dose did not show any antitumor activity. The mortality was 14.3% (one of seven mice) in the AN-238-treated group and 47% (three of seven mice) in mice that received AN-201. In experiment 2, two i.v. injections of AN-238 at 150 nmol/kg were given 10 days apart when the tumors measured 65-70 mm3. A significant inhibition of tumor volume (62.3%; P < 0.001) and tumor weight (61.1%; P < 0.01) was observed after 4 weeks of treatment. AN-201, given alone at the same dose or coadministered with RC-121, had no significant effect on PC-3 tumors. The suppression of tumor growth induced by AN-238 was accompanied by a significant enhancement of apoptosis (P < 0.01). There were similar side effects in all treated groups, which included a transient loss of body weight and leukopenia. The effectiveness of AN-238 in a metastatic model was then investigated in animals implanted orthotopically with 2 x 10(6) PC-3 cells. Two i.v. injections of AN-238 or AN-201 at 150 nmol/kg were administered 10 days apart at 10 weeks after intraprostatic inoculation of PC-3 cells. After 4 weeks of treatment, the mean weight of primary tumors in animals receiving AN-238 was 77% lower (P < 0.01) than that in controls. This reduction was also significantly greater (P < 0.05) than that in animals given AN-201, which showed only a 34% inhibition (nonsignificant versus controls). All control animals and four of six (67%) mice treated with AN-201 developed metastases in the lymph nodes; however, no lymphatic spread of cancer was found in the AN-238-treated group. Using reverse transcription-PCR analysis, we demonstrated the expression of SSTR2 and SSTR5 in intraprostatic tumors and their metastases in lymph nodes as well as in s.c. tumors. The present study demonstrates the high efficacy of SSTR-targeted chemotherapy in a model of advanced human androgen-independent prostatic carcinoma, as shown by the inhibition of primary tumors and their metastases by the cytotoxic SST analogue AN-238.