Polyamines in brain tumor therapy

Summary In the search for ways to augment current brain tumor therapies many have sought to exploit the fact that adult brain tissue is virtually lacking in cell division. This endorses a special appeal to therapeutic approaches which target the dependence on cell division for brain tumor growth. Polyamines play an essential role in the proliferation of mammalian cells and depletion results in inhibition of growth. As a result, there are investigations into the feasibility of controlling tumor growth by targeting the enzymes in polyamine metabolism with specific enzyme inhibitors. DFMO, an inhibitor of putrescine synthesis, is a cytostatic agent which in combination with tritiated radioemitters or cytotoxic agents such as, MGBG or BCNU is an effective antitumor agent, but the effectiveness of DFMOin vivo is reduced by tumor cell uptake of polyamines released into the circulation by normal cells and from gut flora or dietary sources. However, DFMO therapy combined with elimination of exogenous polyamines inhibits tumor growth but also results in body weight loss, reduced protein synthesis and evidence of toxicity. Furthermore, tumor growth recurs upon termination of treatment. In contrast, competitive polyamine analogs function in the homeostatic regulation of polyamine synthesis but fail to fulfill the requirements for growth and they continue to inhibit tumor growth for several weeks after cessation of treatment. Analogs are now in clinical trials. However, their action may be highly specific and differ from one cell type to another. We suggest that the effectiveness of polyamine based therapy would be enhanced by two approaches: local delivery by intracerebral microdialysis and tumor cell killing by internal radioemitters such as tritiated putrescine or tritriated thymidine which are taken up in increased amounts by polyamine depleted tumor cells. The growth inhibition by polyamine depletion prevents the dilution of the radioactive putrescine and thymidine. The overload of radioactivity kills the growth inhibited cells so that growth cannot recur when treatment terminates.