Addition of DHA synergistically enhances the efficacy of regorafenib for kidney cancer therapy

摘要

Kidney cancer is the 6^th most common cancer in the US and its incidence is increasing. The treatment of this malignancy took a major step forward with the recent introduction of targeted therapeutics such as the kinase inhibitors. Unfortunately, kinase inhibition is associated with the onset of resistance after 1–2 years of treatment. Regorafenib, like many multi-kinase inhibitors, was designed to block the activities of several key kinase pathways involved in oncogenesis (Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK) and tumor angiogenesis (VEGF-receptors), and we have recently shown that it also possesses soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) inhibitory activity which may be contributing to its salutary effects in patients. Since sEH inhibition results in increases in the DHA-derived epoxydocosapentaenoic acids (EDPs) which we have previously described to possess anti-cancer properties, we asked whether the addition of DHA to a therapeutic regimen in the presence of regorafenib would enhance its beneficial effects in vivo. We now show that the combination of regorafenib and DHA results in a synergistic effect upon tumor invasiveness as well as p-VEGFR attenuation. In addition, this combination showed a reduction in tumor weights, greater than each agent alone, in a mouse xenograft model of human RCC, yielding the expected oxylipin profiles; this data was supported in several RCC cell lines which showed similar results in vitro. Since DHA is the predominant component of fish oil, our data suggest that this non-toxic dietary supplement could be administered with regorafenib during therapy for advanced RCC and could be the basis of a clinical trial.