Overcoming Intrinsic Doxorubicin Resistance in Melanoma by Anti-Angiogenic and Anti-Metastatic Effects of Liposomal Prednisolone Phosphate on Tumor Microenvironment
Open Access
- 23 April 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by MDPI AG in International Journal of Molecular Sciences
- Vol. 21 (8), 2968
- https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21082968
Abstract
Regardless of recent progress, melanoma is very difficult to treat, mainly due to the drug resistance modulated by tumor cells as well as by the tumor microenvironment (TME). Among the immune cells recruited at the tumor site, tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) are the most abundant, promoting important tumorigenic processes: angiogenesis, inflammation and invasiveness. Furthermore, it has been shown that TAMs are involved in mediating the drug resistance of melanoma cells. Thus, in the present study, we used liposomal formulation of prednisolone disodium phosphate (LCL-PLP) to inhibit the protumor function of TAMs with the aim to sensitize the melanoma cells to the cytotoxic drug doxorubicin (DOX) to which human melanoma has intrinsic resistance. Consequently, we evaluated the in vivo effects of the concomitant administration of LCL-PLP and liposomal formulation of DOX (LCL-DOX) on B16.F10 melanoma growth and on the production of key molecular markers for tumor development. Our results demonstrated that the concomitant administration of LCL-PLP and LCL-DOX induced a strong inhibition of tumor growth, primarily by inhibiting TAMs-mediated angiogenesis as well as the tumor production of MMP-2 and AP-1. Moreover, our data suggested that the combined therapy also affected TME as the number of infiltrated macrophages in melanoma microenvironment was reduced significantly.This publication has 55 references indexed in Scilit:
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