Expression data from MDA-MB-231 cell line treated with Zoledronate, or Fluvastatin, or mock-treated control cells.

Statins and bisphosponates (BPs) are two distinct classes of isoprenoid pathway inhibitors targeting HMG-CoA reductase (upstream enzyme) and Farnesyl-pyrophospate synthase (downstream enzyme) respectively. Here we conducted a comparative study of two representatives of these classes, fluvastatin (Fluva) and Zoledronate (Zol), to assess the differences in their in vivo metastatic potentials and pharmacogenomic profiles. Both drugs, being administered after emergence of detectable metastases, appeared to be potent metastasis inhibitors in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer metastasis model. We observed a reduced number of metastatic sites under Fluva, but not Zol treatment. Combinatorial in vivo treatment by Fluva and Zol showed no synergy for these drugs, as reported earlier on the basis of in vitro studies (Budman DR, Oncology 2006), staying in line with similarity of their transcriptomic profiles. Comparison of Zol and Fluva transcriptomic profiles revealed similar patterns of affected genes (describe involved genes functions) through different kinetics (when treated with IC50 determined for 72h treatment, the majority of changes were observed after 24h incubation with Fluva , and only after 48h incubation with Zol at 72h-IC50 or after 24h treatment with its 3 times higher dose). We demonstrated here that targeting different enzymes of the same pathway neither necessarily leads to distinct changes in gene profiles, nor to synergy for in vivo anti-metastatic potential.

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Vintonenko N, Jais JP, Kassis N, Abdelkarim M, Perret GY, Lecouvey M, Crepin M, Di Benedetto M