Rapid Decrease in Delivery of Chemotherapy to Tumors after Anti-VEGF Therapy: Implications for Scheduling of Anti-Angiogenic Drugs
Menée sur des patients atteints d'un cancer du poumon non à petites cellules, cette étude évalue, à l'aide d'imagerie par tomographie par émission de positrons, l'effet du bevacizumab sur la capacité du docétaxel à pénétrer à l'intérieur des tumeurs
Current strategies combining anti-angiogenic drugs with chemotherapy provide clinical benefit in cancer patients. It is assumed that anti-angiogenic drugs, such as bevacizumab, transiently normalize abnormal tumor vasculature and contribute to improved delivery of subsequent chemotherapy. To investigate this concept, a study was performed in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients using positron emission tomography (PET) and radiolabeled docetaxel ([11C]docetaxel). In NSCLC, bevacizumab reduced both perfusion and net influx rate of [11C]docetaxel within 5 hr. These effects persisted after 4 days. The clinical relevance of these findings is notable, as there was no evidence for a substantial improvement in drug delivery to tumors. These findings highlight the importance of drug scheduling and advocate further studies to optimize scheduling of anti-angiogenic drugs. º Drug delivery to tumors can be measured using PET and radiolabeled drugs º The anti-angiogenic drug bevacizumab induces a rapid decline in tumor perfusion º In NSCLC patients, drug delivery decreased within 5 hr after bevacizumab º Bevacizumab did not improve delivery of chemotherapy to tumors