Figure 2.

Early treatment with tasquinimod prevents tumor growth in two preclinical models of BCa. (A–D). AY-27 tumor cells (10⁶) were injected orthotopically in the bladder of female rats. Mice were left (A) untreated (Control) or treated with (B) tasquinimod 2 mg/kg (oral gavage, twice daily), or with (C) cisplatin 2 mg/kg (Intraperitoneal injection, once per week) at day 4 post-tumor cell inoculation. Each curve corresponds to the tumor growth of a single tumor monitored by MRI measurements at 4, 31, 41 and 48 d post-tumor cell inoculation (n = 10 animals per group). (D) Weight of AY-27 tumors left untreated or treated with tasquinimod or cisplatin at the end of the experiment (day 48) (One-way ANOVA; ***p < 0.001). (E) MBT-2 tumor cells (10⁶) were injected subcutaneously into C3H/HeNRj mice. Treatment with 4 doses of tasquinimod: 0.1–1–10 and 30 mg/kg was initiated the next day following tumor cell injection. MBT-2 tumor growth for each dose of tasquinimod treatment as compared to control. Fold change of mRNA expression of different inflammatory genes in (F) AY-27 and (G) MBT-2 treated tumors relative to their respective control set to 1. Data are mean ± SEM (n = 10 mice). Asterisks denote statistical significance (One-way ANOVA; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.005; ***p < 0.001).