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Investigation of the efficacy of a bevacizumab-cetuximab-cisplatin regimen in treating head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in mice

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Abstract

The efficacy of bevacizumab plus cetuximab-based chemotherapy remains unclear in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The aim of this study was to investigate the anticancer efficacy of a bevacizumab-cetuximab-cisplatin triple-agent combination in treating mouse HNSCC. SCC-VII tumor-bearing C3H mice were treated with bevacizumab, cetuximab and cisplatin either alone or in various combinations. In vivo results showed that the largest delay in tumor growth and the maximum increase in survival were not in the triple-agent combination therapy, but in the bevacizumab plus cisplatin therapy. TUNEL assay showed that the apoptosis indices in bevacizumab plus cisplatin group and a triple-agent combination group were 31.6 ± 12.0% and 6.9 ± 1.3%, respectively. Western blot showed that down-regulation of Bcl-2 and up-regulation of cleaved caspase-3 contributed to the anticancer effect of a triple-agent combination and bevacizumab plus cisplatin. Moreover, the maximum level of cleaved caspase-3 expression was not found in the triple-agent combination group but in the bevacizumab plus cisplatin group. Bevacizumab plus cisplatin therapy is better than bevacizumab-cetuximab-cisplatin triple therapy in the mouse HNSCC model. Our findings suggest that the bevacizumab-cetuximab-cisplatin regimen may not be suitable for treating HNSCC.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Nianhui Cui for providing the SCC-VII cell line for the study. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (39470754) and the National “985 Project” of China (985-2-040-115).

Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central Laboratory, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, 22 Zhongguancun Nandajie, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081, People’s Republic of China

    Yixiang Wang, Ling Dong, Dengcheng Wu, Xiyuan Ge, Xiaoxia Zhang, Jia Fu & Shenglin Li

  2. Department of Oral Surgery, Hospital for Oral Disease Prevention and Treatment, Heilongjiang, 150001, China

    Qingwei Bi

  3. Department of Dentistry, Beijing Haidian Hospital, Beijing, 100080, China

    Xiao Li

  4. Area of Endodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, HKSAR, China

    Chengfei Zhang

  5. Division of Oral Biology and Medicine, UCLA Dentistry, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Cunyu Wang

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  1. Yixiang Wang
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  2. Ling Dong
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  3. Qingwei Bi
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Correspondence to Yixiang Wang or Shenglin Li.

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Yixiang Wang and Ling Dong contributed equally to this work.

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Wang, Y., Dong, L., Bi, Q. et al. Investigation of the efficacy of a bevacizumab-cetuximab-cisplatin regimen in treating head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in mice. Targ Oncol 5, 237–243 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11523-010-0164-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11523-010-0164-3

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