It has been reported that the polyamines such as putrescine, spermidine, and spermine are essential for the cell growth and differentiation, and depletion of intracellular polyamines results in slowing and eventual cessation of the cell growth.
Difluoromethylornithine(DFMO), a selective and irriversible inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase, blocks conversion of ornithine to putrescine, which is the first and rate-limiting step in the polyamine biosynthesis. The antiproliferative effect
of
DFMO
has been demonstrated in several cancer cell lines and in animal models.
In our previous report, we documented dose-dependent anti-proliferative effect of DFMO in serum free media and the ability of putresine to reverse the growth inhibitory effect of DFMO. In this study, we investigated in vitro response to DFMO for
nine
human cancer cell lines which have been established and maintained in our institution and characteristics of which have been reported, using a semiautomated tetrazolium-based colorimetric(MTT) assay in serum containing media which is more fit for
the
cell growth.
The IC50 was lower than 0.5mM(maximal tolerrable dose for the human beings) in only one cancer cell line(SNU-1) and we concluded that the anitiproliferative of DFMO is not strong enough in the serum containg media and a combination with other
anitiproliferartive agents should be tried.
|