Effect of the dihydropyridine dexniguldipine on the epidermal growth factor-stimulated proliferation of human lung cancer cell lines

Abstract The dihydropyridine Dexniguldipine (B859-35) has been shown to inhibit calmodulin and protein kinase C in vitro , and has a significant therapeutic effect on induced neuroendocrine lung tumours in hamsters. As phase I clinical trials with this agent resulted in the development of stable disease in several patients with non-small-cell cancers and preliminary in vitro studies revealed several non-small-cell cancer cell lines susceptible to the antiproliferative effects of dexniguldipine, the possibility was investigated that this agent may inhibit cell proliferation stimulated by epidermal growth factor (EGF), which is expressed in many non-small-cell cancer types. Experiments conducted with six human lung cancer cell lines showed that dexniguldipine is a potent inhibitor of EGF-stimulated cell proliferation. This agent may therefore also be useful for the therapy of cancers that express the EGF receptor.