Background: Leukocyte immunomodulation has great clinical potential as a therapy of inflammatory conditions and cancer. We have recently developed leukocyte alphaMbeta2 integrin targeting small molecule (IMB-10) capable of inhibiting leukocyte migration and recruitment in vitro and in vivo.
Materials and methods: The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential anticancer effects of IMB-10 using U937 histiocytic lymphoma, OCI-AML-3 acute myeloid leukemia and HSC-3 tongue squamous cell carcinoma xenografts in athymic nude mice lacking T-lymphocytes.
Results: IMB-10 therapy inhibited the growth of both leukemia and lymphoma xenografts and significantly prolonged the survival of the mice with lymphoma. Interestingly, IMB-10 also reduced host leukocyte infiltration in tumors and affected the invasion potential of squamous cell carcinomas.
Conclusion: IMB-10 has potential as a therapy for leukocytic malignancies, particularly for lymphomas. Since it also inhibited HSC-3 carcinoma invasion, most likely by blockage of the tumor-infiltrating leukocytes, we suggest that the host inflammation process may affect tumor progression also in a T-cell independent manner.