Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Aug 24.
Published in final edited form as: Mol Cell. 2012 Jul 19;47(4):570–584. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2012.06.014

Figure 6. Targeting of the IL-6 pathway reduces the CSC population inhibiting tumor growth and metastasis in mouse xenografts.

Figure 6

Metastatic Sum159-HER2+PTEN− cells were implanted into the fat pads of NOD-SCID mice (A). In early treatment (started on the day of implantation) settings (B), docetaxel (10mg/kg) once a week, perifosine (20mg/kg) twice a week and anti-IL-6R (10mg/kg) once a week were administered for 8 weeks. (C) Representative pictures of mice for each early treatment group. (D) In late treatment (started after the establishment of tumor ~0.4cm), drugs were administered as in the early treatment. (D and E) Tumors were measured following 8 weeks of treatment. There was a 80% and 50% reduction in tumor size in early and late perifosine+anti-IL-6R antibody combination treatments respectively. (F) Mice treated with perifosine, anti-IL-6R antibody or the combination showed less body weight loss than those treated with docetaxel alone. (G) Tumors from mice treated with perifosine or anti-IL-6R antibody alone or the combination showed substantial reduction in Aldefluor-positive cell population. In contrast, tumors from control or docetaxel treated mice, showed no reduction. (H) Serum levels of human IL-6 and IL-8, measured by ELISA in control and docetaxel treated mice were two fold higher than in the perifosine, anti-IL-6R antibody alone or in combination treated mice. Error bars represent the mean and standard deviation of five independent mice data. (*p ≤ 0.05, #p ≤ 0.01).