RESEARCH ARTICLE
Lack of Effect of SU1498, an Inhibitor of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2, in a Transgenic Murine Model of Retinoblastoma
C.M Cebulla, M.E Jockovich, H Boutrid, Y Piña, M Ruggeri, S Jiao, S.K Bhattacharya, W.J Feuer, T.G Murray*
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2008Volume: 2
First Page: 62
Last Page: 67
Publisher ID: TOOPHTJ-2-62
DOI: 10.2174/1874364100802010062
Article History:
Received Date: 1/2/2008Revision Received Date: 28/2/2008
Acceptance Date: 1/3/2008
Electronic publication date: 2/4/2008
Collection year: 2008
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/), which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
SU1498, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2), has activity against retinal neovascular diseases. To determine if this drug might have clinical utility against retinoblastoma, we evaluated the effects of SU1498, as well as the expression of VEGFR-2, in a transgenic animal model of retinoblastoma. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) was evaluated as a technology to measure retinal tumors in vivo, in response to treatment. Immunofluorescence analysis was performed to evaluate the distribution and expression of VEGFR-2 in enucleated eyes from LHβTag transgenic mice and controls at 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks of age. VEGFR-2 and phosphorylated (p)VEGFR-2 levels were quantitated by Western blot. OCT was used to pair 10-week-old animals based on tumor volume (n=10), and these animals were treated with 6 periocular injections of SU1498 (50mg/kg, given twice weekly) or vehicle for 3 weeks. Tumor burden was determined by histology and in vivo imaging by OCT. VEGFR-2 and pVEGFR-2 expression levels were upregulated during tumorigenesis. However, SU1498 did not significantly reduce tumor burden compared to vehicle (p=0.29). OCT imaging of one matched pair demonstrated equivalent, linear tumor growth despite treatment with SU1498. Retinal tumors can be followed non-invasively and quantitatively measured with OCT. VEGFR-2 is strongly upregulated during tumorigenesis in transgenic retinoblastoma; however, SU1498 does not decrease tumor volume in transgenic murine RB at the studied dose and route of administration
