Abstract
Lovastatin, a fungal antibiotic used in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia, is an inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase, the key regulatory enzyme in the mevalonate pathway of cholesterol synthesis. We examined the antitumor properties of lovastatin on the F3II sarcomatoid mammary carcinoma, a highly invasive and metastatic murine tumor model. Female BALB/c inbred mice were inoculated subcutaneously with F3II tumor cells and injected i.p. daily with 10 mg/kg body weight of lovastatin or administered p.o. at a level corresponding to the human dosage of 1–2 mg/kg/day. Treatment significantly prolonged tumor latency and reduced tumor formation and metastatic dissemination to the lungs from established mammary tumors. In vitro, antitumor properties of lovastatin were strongly associated with inhibition of tumor cell attachment and migration. These actions were prevented by addition of mevalonate but not by equivalent concentrations of farnesyl pyrophosphate. In accordance, Western blot assays showed that lovastatin effects did not appear to be related to modifications in Ras oncoproteins in our model. The present data indicate that lovastatin could be an antitumor agent with potentially useful clinical applications in breast cancer.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Goldstein JL, Brown MS: Regulation of the mevalonate pathway. Nature 343: 425–430, 1990
Maltese WA: Posttranslational modification of proteins by isoprenoids in mammalian cells. FASEB J 4: 3319–3328, 1990
Casey PJ, Solski PA, Der CJ, Buss JE: p21 ras is modified by a farnesyl isoprenoid. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 86: 8323–8327, 1989
Littman ML, Taguchi T, Mosbach EH: Effect of cholesterol-free, fat-free and hypocholesterolemic agents on growth of transplantable animal tumors. Cancer Chem Rep 50: 25–45, 1966
Sumi S, Beauchamp D, Townsend CM Jr, Pour PM, Ishizuka J, Thompson JC: Lovastatin inhibits pancreatic cancer growth regardless of ras mutation. Pancreas 9: 657–661, 1994
Jani JP, Specht S, Stemmler N, Blanock K, Singh SV, Gupta V, Katoh A: Metastasis of B16F10 mouse melanoma inhibited by lovastatin, an inhibitor of cholesterol biosynthesis. Invasion Metastasis 13: 314–324, 1993
Hawnk MA, Cesen KT, Siglin JC, Stoner GD, Ruch RJ: Inhibition of lung tumor cell growth in vitro and mouse lung tumor formation by lovastatin. Cancer Lett 109: 217–222, 1996
Maltese WA, Defendini R, Green RA, Sheridan KM, Donley DK: Supression of murine neuroblastoma growth in vivo by mevinolin, a competitive inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase. J Clin Invest 76: 1748–1754, 1985
Prasanna P, Thibault A, Liu L, Samid D: Lipid metabolism as a target for brain cancer therapy: synergistic activity of lovastatin and phenylacetate against glioma cells. J Neurochem 66: 710–716, 1996
Thorgeirsson UP, Lindsay CK, Cottam DW, Gomez DE: Tumor invasion, proteolysis, and angiogenesis. J Neuro-Oncol 18: 89–103, 1994
Nicolson GL: Cancer metastasis: tumor cell and host organ properties important in metastasis to specific secondary sites. Biochem Biophys Acta 948: 175–224, 1988
Testa JE, Quigley JP: The role of urokinase-type plasminogen activator in aggresive tumor cell behavior. Cancer Metastasis Rev 9: 353–367, 1990
Gomez DE, Alonso DF, Yoshiji H, Thorgeirsson UP: Timps, Tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases: structure, regulation and biological functions. Eur J Cell Biol 74: 111–122, 1997
Alonso DF, Skilton G, Farina HG, De Lorenzo MS, Gomez DE: Modulation of growth and urokinase secretion by vasopressin and closely related nonapeptides in metastatic mouse mammary tumor cells. Int J Oncol 10: 375–379, 1997
Aguirre Ghiso JA, Alonso DF, Farías EF, Bal de Kier Joffé E: Overproduction of urokinase-type plasminogen activator is regulated by phospholipase D-and protein kinase C-dependent pathways in murine mammary adenocarcinoma cells. Biochem Biophys Acta 1356: 171–184, 1997
Aguirre Ghiso JA, Farías EF, Alonso DF, Arregui C, Bal de Kier Joffé E: A phospholipase D and protein kinase C inhibitor blocks the spreading of murine mammary adenocarcinoma cells altering f-actin and β1-integrin point contact distribution. Int J Cancer 71: 881–890, 1997
Alonso DF, Farías EF, Urtreger A, Ladeda V, Vidal MCC, Bal de Kier Joffé E: Characterization of F311, a sarcomatoid mammary carcinoma cell line originated from a clonal subpopulation of a mouse adenocarcinoma. J Surg Oncol 62: 288–297, 1996
Alonso DF, Farías EF, Ladeda V, Davel L, Puricelli L, Bal de Kier Joffé E: Effects of synthetic urokinase inhibitors on local invasion and metastasis in a murine mammary tumor model. Breast Cancer Res Treat 40: 209–223, 1996
Goodman SL, Vollmers HP, Birchmeir W: Control of cell locomotion: perturbation with an antibody directed against specific glycoproteins. Cell 41: 1029–1038, 1985
Alonso DF, Farías EF, Famulari AL, Domínguez RO, Kohan S, Sacerdote de Lustig E: Excessive urokinase-type plasminogen activator activity in the euglobulin fraction of patients with Alzheimer-type dementia. J Neurol Sci 139: 83–88, 1996
Ballin M, Gomez DE, Sinha CC, Thorgeirsson UP: Ras oncogene mediated induction of a 92 kDa metalloproteinase; strong correlation with the malignant phenotype. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 154: 832–838, 1988
Tanaka T, Slamon DJ, Battifora H, Cline MJ: Expression of p21 ras oncoproteins in human cancers. Cancer Res 46: 1465–1470, 1986
MacDonald JS, Gerson RJ, Konbrust DJ, Kloss MW, Prahalada S, Berry PH, Alberts AW, Bokelman DL: Preclinical evaluation of lovastatin. Am J Cardiol 62: 16–27, 1988
Thibault A, Samid D, Tompkins AC, Figg WD, Cooper MR, Hohl RJ, Trepel J, Liang B, Patronas N, Venzon DJ, Reed E, Myers CE: Phase I study of lovastatin, an inhibitor of the mevalonate pathway, in patients with cancer. Clin Cancer Res 2: 483–491, 1996
Fumagalli R, Grossi E, Paoletti P, Paoletti R: Studies on lipids in brain tumors: Occurrence and significance of sterol precursors of cholesterol in human brain tumors. J Neurochem 11: 561–565, 1964
Kritz H, Zielinski C, Sinzinger H: Low cholesterol and cancer. J Clin Oncol 14: 3043–3048, 1996
Maltese WA: 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase in human brain tumors. Neurology 33: 1294–1299, 1983
Quesney-Huneeus V, Wiley MH, Siperstein MD: Essential role of mevalonate synthesis in DNA replication. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 76: 5056–5060, 1979
Gray-Bablin J, Rao S, Keyomarsi K: Lovastatin induction of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors in human breast cancer cells occurs in a cell cycle-independent fashion. Cancer Res 57: 604–609, 1997
Hengst L, Dulic V, Slingerland JM, Lees E, Reed SI: A cell cycle-regulated inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91: 5291–5295, 1994
De Clue JE, Vass WC, Papageorge AG, Lowy DR, Willumsen BM: Inhibition of cell growth by lovastatin is independent of ras function. Cancer Res 51: 712–717, 1991
Hal DG, Stoica G: Evaluation of potential oncogene activation in the ENU1564 rat mammary tumor model. Anticancer Res 14: 481–487, 1994
Inui H, Watatani M, Yasutomi M, Nishisho T: Comparision of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase mRNA levels in Ha-ras mutated and non-mutated rat mammary tumors induced by N-methyl-N-nitrosourea. Carcinogenesis 15: 459–463, 1994
Spandidos DA: Oncogene activation in malignant transformation: a study of H-ras in human breast cancer. Anticancer Res 7: 991–996, 1987
Kandutsch AA, Chen HW: Consequences of blocked sterol synthesis in cultured cells: DNA synthesis and membrane composition. J Biol Chem 252: 409–415, 1977
Taraboletti G, Perin L, Bottazzi B, Mantovani A, Giavazzi R, Salmona M: Membrane fluidity affects tumor cell motility, invasion and lung-colonizing potential. Int J Cancer 44: 707–713, 1989
Escobales N, Castro M, Altieri PI, Sanabria P: Simvastatin releases calcium from a thapsigargin-sensitive pool and inhibits InsP3-dependent calcium mobilization in vascular smooth muscle cells. J Cardiovase Pharmacol 27: 383–391, 1996
Needham GK, Nicholson S, Angus B, Farndon JR, Harris AL: Relationship of membrane-bound tissue type and urokinase type plasminogen activators in human breast cancers to estrogen and epidermal growth factor receptors. Cancer Res 48: 6603–6607, 1988
Duffy MJ, O'Grady P, Devaney D, O'Siorain L, Fenelly JJ, Lijnen HR: Tissue-type plasminogen activator, a new prognostic marker in breast marker. Cancer Res 48: 1348–1349, 1988
Alberts AW, MacDonald JS, Till AE, Tobert JA: Lovastatin. Cardiovasc Drug Rev 7: 89–109, 1989
Kornbrust DJ, MacDonald JS, Chennekatu PP, Duchai DM, Stubbs RJ, Germerhausen JI, Alberts AW: Toxicity of the HMG-coenzyme A reductase inhibitor lovastatin to rabbits. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 248: 498–505, 1989
El-Sohemy A, Archer MC: Regulation of mevalonate synthesis in rat mammary glands by dietary n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Cancer Res 57: 3685–3687, 1997
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Alonso, D.F., Farina, H.G., Skilton, G. et al. Reduction of mouse mammary tumor formation and metastasis by lovastatin, an inhibitor of the mevalonate pathway of cholesterol synthesis. Breast Cancer Res Treat 50, 83–93 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006058409974
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006058409974