Hematological Effects, Serum, and Pulmonary Cytokine Profiles in a Melanoma Mouse Model Treated with GK1.

Armando Pérez-Torres, Jesus Vera-Aguilera, Jorge H Sahaza, Carlos Vera-Aguilera, Eduardo Moreno-Aguilera, Evelyn Pulido-Camarillo, Luis Nuñez-Ochoa, Pratheepa Jeganathan

Cancer biotherapy & radiopharmaceuticals 2015 Aug

filter terms:

In a previous study, we demonstrated the therapeutic efficacy of a subcutaneous injection of GK1 peptide in a melanoma mouse model, effectively increasing the mean survival time by 42.58%, delaying tumor growth, and increasing intratumoral necrosis compared with the control. As a first approach to investigate the anti-melanoma effect of GK1, this study was carried out to determine the hematological effects along with both serum and lung cytokine profiles in a melanoma lung metastatic model. Thirteen C57BL6 female mice were transfected in the lateral tail vein with 2×10(5) B16-F0 melanoma cells. After 7 days, mice were separated in two different groups and treatments were initiated (day 0): The GK1-treated group (seven mice) were injected every 5 days intravenously with GK1 (10 μg) in the lateral tail vein, and the control group (six mice) were injected every 5 days with intravenous saline solution. Blood samples were collected every 5 days from day 0; tumor samples were obtained for cytokine measurements on the day of sacrifice. In the peripheral blood, mice treated with GK1 presented a statistically significant decrease in IFN-γ (p<0.05), and lymphocytes tended to be lower compared with the control mice (p=0.06). Lung metastatic analysis demonstrated a significant increase in IFN-γ and IL-12p70 (p<0.05); a significant decrease in IL-17, IL-4, IL-22, IL-23, and IL-12p40 (p<0.05); and a marginal decrease in IL-1β (p=0.07) compared with the control. Our results suggest that an intratumoral increase of cytokines with antitumor activity along with an intratumoral decrease of cytokines with protumor activity could explain, in part, the anti-melanoma effects of GK1 in a lung metastatic melanoma mouse model. Further studies must be performed to elucidate the precise mechanisms of action for GK1 peptide against melanoma, and their eventual application in humans.

Citation

Armando Pérez-Torres, Jesus Vera-Aguilera, Jorge H Sahaza, Carlos Vera-Aguilera, Eduardo Moreno-Aguilera, Evelyn Pulido-Camarillo, Luis Nuñez-Ochoa, Pratheepa Jeganathan. Hematological Effects, Serum, and Pulmonary Cytokine Profiles in a Melanoma Mouse Model Treated with GK1. Cancer biotherapy & radiopharmaceuticals. 2015 Aug;30(6):247-54