近日，來自法蘭德斯大學(xué)聯(lián)辦生物技術(shù)研究院的研究人員在對實驗動物進行研究時發(fā)現(xiàn)，抗瘧疾藥物氯奎寧或具有明顯的抗癌效應(yīng)，截至目前，研究者們推測氯喹可以增加癌細胞對化療的敏感性。

2014年8月13日 訊 /生物谷BIOON/ --近日，來自法蘭德斯大學(xué)聯(lián)辦生物技術(shù)研究院的研究人員在對實驗動物進行研究時發(fā)現(xiàn)，抗瘧疾藥物氯奎寧或具有明顯的抗癌效應(yīng)，截至目前，研究者們推測氯喹可以增加癌細胞對化療的敏感性。研究者表示，氯奎寧同樣可以使得腫瘤組織的異常血管正?；?，結(jié)果從一方面來講會增加癌細胞的屏障功能，進而阻斷癌細胞的擴散和轉(zhuǎn)移；從另一方面將則會增強腫瘤的灌注，使得其對化療作用更為敏感。

氯奎寧是一種常見的用于治療瘧疾及特定類型自身免疫疾病，比如類風濕性關(guān)節(jié)炎的藥物，氯奎寧可以阻斷癌細胞的自噬過程，降低癌細胞對化療作用的耐受性；研究者Hannelore Maes說道，我們開啟這項研究目的在于揭示氯奎寧增強抗癌效應(yīng)的分子機制，盡管當前研究人員都假設(shè)氯奎寧可以通過阻斷癌細胞的自噬來增強抗癌特性，但是并沒有有效的證據(jù)來證明。

這項研究中，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)氯奎寧不僅對癌細胞的生長具有明顯的抑制效應(yīng)，而且其還會通過使得腫瘤異常的血管正常化來促進得腫瘤生長的環(huán)境具有較低的侵襲性；腫瘤組織血管的正常化可以有效改善腫瘤的灌注，這就會減少腫瘤細胞的侵襲性，這就意味著抗癌藥物就可以順利達到癌細胞患處進行殺滅作用。

另外，腫瘤血管的正?；梢栽黾友艿钠琳瞎δ埽M而減少癌細胞的循環(huán)，因此氯奎寧在癌癥發(fā)生初期就可以有效抑制癌細胞的擴散，這將成為治療癌癥成功的關(guān)鍵一步。這項研究為研究人員開發(fā)利用以氯奎寧為基礎(chǔ)的聯(lián)合療法來抑制癌癥的發(fā)生提供了新的思路和希望。（生物谷Bioon.com）

新聞原文：

Chloroquine is a well-known medicine with a good safety profile that has been in use since World War 2 for the treatment of malaria and certain auto-immune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis. More recently, chloroquine has also been used in anti-cancer treatment. Chloroquine blocks autophagy, a process that cancer cells use to survive to anti-cancer treatments. Therefore, blocking autophagy would reduce the resistance of the cancer cells to chemotherapy.

Normalization of abnormal tumor blood vessels

Hannelore Maes from the team of Patrizia Agostinis (KU Leuven), together with Anna Kuchnio from the team of Peter Carmeliet (VIB-KU Leuven) have started a study to explain how chloroquine can strengthen the effect of anti-cancer treatments.

"Although it is assumed that chloroquine strengthens anti-cancer treatment by blocking autophagy, there is little in vivo evidence that this is the only way in which chloroquine works. In this study, we found that chloroquine not only has an effect on the growth of the cancer cells, but also makes the tumor environment less aggressive by normalizing the abnormal blood vessels in the tumor," says Patrizia Agostinis.

Peter Carmeliet: "Blood vessel normalization results in improved tumor perfusion. This reduces the aggressive nature of the cancer cells and means that the anti-cancer medicines are better able to reach the cancer cells, which makes chemotherapy more effective. In addition, tumor blood vessel normalization also increases the barrier function of the blood vessels, which reduces the access of cancer cells to the circulation -- the most important transport system for the spreading of cancer cells to other tissues. Therefore, chloroquine can nip the metastatic spreading of cancer cells in the bud, which is the most important therapeutic goal in any tumor treatment."

Disadvantages do not outweigh the benefits -- the impact of this study on the use of chloroquine in anti-cancer treatment

This study forms a new rationale for the use of chloroquine in anti-cancer treatment. With a view to clinical studies (tests on humans) it is important to note that the effects on the tumor vasculature were even observed at chloroquine concentrations that had little effect on autophagy in the cancer cells. This sheds new light on the therapeutic schedule for combination therapy with chloroquine, which could result in decreased toxicity. In other words, the same "old" medicine simultaneously targets the cancer cells themselves and the blood vessels with great efficiency.

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