Abstract
Objectives: Leukotrienes are potent inflammation- and edema-promoting eicosanoids synthesized from araehidonic acid by the 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) pathway. Meningiomas and astrocytomas were previously shown to produce large amounts of leukotrienes. Acetyl-11-keto-boswellic acid (AKBA) is a novel, orally active, non-competitive 5-LO inhibitor. It is a naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpene isolated from the gum resin exudate from the stem of the tree Boswellia serrata. Methods: The effects of AKBA on proliferation of nine primary meningioma cell cultures were determined at 96 h after AKBA addition by the MTS non-radioactive cell proliferation assay. Results: Treatment of meningioma cells by AKBA revealed a potent cytotoxic activity IC5(1 values (half-maximal inhibitory concentration) in the range of 2-4 microM for growth-arrested and 7-10 microM for the cells cultured in the presence of 10 microM araehidonic acid and/or 5 microM bovine serum albumin. AKBA was at least 4-fold more cytotoxic for exponentially growing meningioma cells than for the non-tumourous cells. Immunoblotting analysis of meningioma protein extracts revealed that meningiomas expressed high levels of 5-LO. Conclusions: These results suggest that at physiologic concentrations AKBA is cytotoxic for meningioma cells and that 5-LO may play an important role in meningioma tumourigenesis.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 16-17 |
| Number of pages | 2 |
| Journal | Skull Base Surgery |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | SUPPL. 2 |
| State | Published - 1999 |