Although IFN-α has been often used as immunotherapy for bladder cancer because of its relatively low toxicity (compared to BCG), its less efficacy has been also inquired for a significant improvement. Additionally, IFN-α therapy has several drawbacks, such as high cost and repeated administration. A standard intravesical IFN-α instillation is often carried out with 50-100 million IU of IFN-α
19, but whether this high dosage would be sufficient to induce optimal immunity is uncertain because of its short retention time inside the bladder
19. Accordingly, to improve the efficacy of such IFN-α
monotherapy, clinical trials of
combination therapy using IFN-α and BCG
11 have been conducted on patients with bladder cancer. Despite some encouraging outcomes, further studies are yet required for establishing the more potent, safer, and cost-effective treatment modalities.
This interesting issue prompted us to explore an alternative approach using grape seed proanthocyanidin (GSP) in combination with IFN-α
2b, because GSP has been shown to be a natural, non-toxic antioxidant with anticancer effect
15,16. Our study showed that IFN-α
2b or GSP was capable of
individually inducing a significant growth reduction in T24 cells. Interestingly, GSP also exhibited the
cytotoxic effect (inducing
cell death) at its higher concentrations (≥50 μg/ml). When combinations of IFN-α
2b and GSP were tested to further improve the overall efficacy,
all combinations resulted in the
additively enhanced antiproliferative effect, implying that both IFN-α
2b and GSP may share the common growth regulatory pathway. In addition, this IFN-α
2b/GSP-enhanced growth inhibition in T24 cells was also demonstrated in another bladder cancer (5637), prostate cancer (PC-3), and renal cancer (ACHN) cells (Fig. ), suggesting its prevalent potency over bladder cancer as well as various cancer cells.
Our next aim was to probe the antiproliferative mechanism of IFN-α
2b/GSP combination, focusing on the cell cycle regulation. Such study revealed that the IFN-α
2b/GSP-induced growth inhibition was associated with a 64% reduction in the S-phase cell population, due to a blockage of the cells entering from the G
1 to the subsequent S phase (i.e. a G
1 cell cycle arrest). This finding was also verified by analyzing G
1-specific cell cycle regulators: expressions of CDK2, CDK4, and cyclin E were drastically (~80%) down-regulated while p27/Kip1 was greatly (~2.7 fold) up-regulated in IFN-α
2b/GSP-treated cells. Specific modulations of these regulators are indicative of a G
1 cell cycle arrest, which is the crucial cellular event leading ultimately to a growth cessation. Yet, it is also important to examine the IFN-mediated signaling pathways to further define the mechanism of IFN-α
2b/GSP-induced growth inhibition, since activation of specific IFN-inducible genes by signal transduction
20 is well known to dictate biological actions of IFNs (including IFN-α
2b). Such study is currently underway in our laboratory.
It would be worthwhile mentioning the possible clinical relevance of IFN-α
2b/GSP-
enhanced antiproliferative effect. As a high-dose instillation of IFN-α leads to its high cost
19, it would be more practical if such a high dosage could be somehow reduced without losing, or rather, with improving its efficacy. Our study then showed that the relatively
low concentrations of IFN-α
2b (compared to its monotherapy) were required to be highly effective when combined with GSP. This suggests that the combination of IFN-α
2b and GSP may not only help enhance IFN-α
2b activity but also help cut its cost down. However, it is yet required to address how the effective concentrations (e.g., 20K or 50K IU/ml) of IFN-α
2b and GSP in this
in vitro study would be extrapolated to animals or actual patients. Nevertheless, several studies have already reported antitumor activity of GSP
in vivo. For example, GSP was found to inhibit prostate tumor growth and angiogenesis
21 as well as breast cancer metastasis in mice
22 or enhance cytotoxic effect of doxorubicin in mice bearing Sarcorma 180 and Hepatoma 22
23. No palpable side effects of GSP have been yet reported in these animal studies, and the LD
50 of GSP in the rats has been estimated to be >5,000 mg/kg body weight
24, verifying its low toxicity. Moreover, patients with chronic pancreatitis demonstrated the symptomatic improvements, such as the reduction in both pain index and incidence of vomiting
25, with a daily dose of 200-300 mg of GSP. This also implies that GSP may have few side effects and is safe to be used in clinical practice.
In conclusion, IFN-α2b and GSP can individually demonstrate antiproliferative effect on bladder cancer T24 cells. When they were combined, such inhibitory activity would be additively enhanced, resulting in a nearly complete growth cessation. In addition, this additive potentiation can be seen in other cancer cell types as well. The underlying mechanism of IFN-α2b/GSP-enhanced growth inhibition appears to be more likely attributed to a G1 cell cycle arrest. Therefore, specific IFN-α2b/GSP combination may provide alternative, adjuvant intravesical therapy for superficial bladder cancer.