Ang C, Doyle E, Branch A. Bisphosphonates as potential adjuvants for patients with cancers of the digestive system. World J Gastroenterol 2016; 22(3): 906-916 [PMID: 26811636 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i3.906]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Celina Ang, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Box 1079, New York, NY 10029, United States. andrea.branch@mssm.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Frontier
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 21, 2016; 22(3): 906-916 Published online Jan 21, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i3.906
Bisphosphonates as potential adjuvants for patients with cancers of the digestive system
Celina Ang, Erin Doyle, Andrea Branch
Celina Ang, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States
Erin Doyle, Pre-doctoral Student, Graduate School of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States
Andrea Branch, Department of Medicine, Division of Hepatology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States
Author contributions: Ang C and Branch A were co-conceptors of this review; Doyle E designed the accompanying figures; Ang C performed the literature review and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None to report in relation to this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Celina Ang, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Box 1079, New York, NY 10029, United States. andrea.branch@mssm.edu
Telephone: +1-212-8248584 Fax: +1-646-5379639
Received: June 10, 2015 Peer-review started: June 12, 2015 First decision: October 14, 2015 Revised: November 5, 2015 Accepted: December 8, 2015 Article in press: December 8, 2015 Published online: January 21, 2016
Abstract
Best known for their anti-resorptive activity in bone, bisphosphonates (BPs) have generated interest as potential antineoplastic agents given their pleiotropic biological effects which include antiproliferative, antiangiogenic and immune-modulating properties. Clinical studies in multiple malignancies suggest that BPs may be active in the prevention or treatment of cancer. Digestive tract malignancies represent a large and heterogeneous disease group, and the activity of BPs in these cancers has not been extensively studied. Recent data showing that some BPs inhibit human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) signaling highlight a potential therapeutic opportunity in digestive cancers, many of which have alterations in the HER axis. Herein, we review the available evidence providing a rationale for the repurposing of BPs as a therapeutic adjunct in the treatment of digestive malignancies, especially in HER-driven subgroups.
Core tip: Bisphosphonates demonstrate antineoplastic activity in various malignancies but have received little attention in cancers of the digestive tract. We review the preclinical and clinical experience with bisphosphonates in digestive cancers and discuss their potential therapeutic application in this disease group, particularly in the context of recent data on bisphosphonate-induced inhibition of human epidermal growth factor receptor signaling.
