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¹ Department of Experimental Oncology, Experimental Pharmacology Unit National Institute of Tumours ‘Fondaz. G. Pascale’, Via Mariano Semmola, 80131 Naples, Italy
² Department of Medical Oncology, University Campus Bio-Medico, 00100 Rome, Italy

(Requests for offprints should be addressed to M Caraglia; Email: michele.caraglia{at}fondazionepascale.it)

Bone metastases are common in patients with many types of cancer, especially breast and prostate cancer — in which the incidence is approximately 70% among patients with advanced metastatic disease. Aminobisphosphonates (NBPs) have entered clinical practice in the treatment of bone metastases from several neoplasms, including breast and prostate adenocarcinoma, as a result of their anti-resorption properties. However, evidence has accumulated on the direct anti-tumour effects of NBPs. This review describes the metabolic pathways that are putative molecular targets of NBPs and that are involved in the prenylation processes of several intracellular small GTP-binding proteins (ras family related proteins). The latter regulate the intracellular survival and proliferative pathways of tumour cells and could be the intracellular molecular targets of the NBPs responsible for the direct anti-cancer effects, even if definitive conclusions cannot be drawn at present. Different mechanisms have been reported to account for the anti-neoplastic action of NBPs, including: the induction of apoptosis; cell cycle perturbations; and anti-invasive, anti-migration and anti-angiogenic effects. Moreover, this review describes the most important clinical studies that demonstrate the activity of NBPs in preventing skeletal-related events induced by bone metastases. The main pharmacokinetic pitfalls of NBPs are described, and methods of overcoming these pitfalls through the use of liposome vehicles are proposed. Finally, the principal pre-clinical studies on the interaction between NBPs and other biological agents are also described; these studies may enable reductions in the in vivo NBP concentrations required to achieve anti-tumour activity. To date, however, the real molecular targets of NBPs are not completely known and new technological platforms are required in order to detect them and to develop new anti-cancer strategies based on the use of NBPs.

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