On metronomic chemotherapy: modulation of angiogenesis mediated by VEGE-A.

Tumors are angiogenesis dependent. Preclinical studies have shown that well-tolerated continuous low dose, i.e. metronomic, chemotherapy can exert significant antiangiogenic effects per se and thereby a greater antitumor influence than conventional chemotherapy with high, spaced-out bolus doses. There are however, no means of quantitatively assessing the antiangiogenic effect of chemotherapy in tumors. We therefore used a surrogate tumor-free, non-surgical rat mesentery model and quantitatively studied the dose effect of metronomic treatment with cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, fluorouracil and paclitaxel on VEGF-A-mediated angiogenesis, a characteristic of tumors. Cyclophosphamide and paclitaxel treatment exerted significant dose-dependent antiangiogenic effects, whereas doxorubicin treatment produced insignificant effects. By contrast, metronomic cisplatin and fluorouracil treatment occasionally significantly stimulated angiogenesis in a dose-dependent, non-linear manner. To our knowledge, this is the first report of metronomic chemotherapy stimulating angiogenesis in vivo. The data suggest that the angiogenic response to cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, fluorouracil and paclitaxel was significantly influenced by the presence of antioxidants in the vehicles or when co-treated with N-acetylcystein, a widely used free-radical scavenger. The data relating to the metronomic scheduling were compared with bolus treatment data for the identical agent formulations in the same experimental model. Cisplatin, cyclophosphamide and paclitaxel caused approximately the same overall, agent-specific angiogenesis-modulating effects following metronomic and bolus treatments. Moreover, apparently secondary delayed effects of chemotherapy affected capillary sprouting.