In Vitro Modeling of the Antitumor Drugs Effects on the Endothelial Barrier Function

Abstract

Pulmonary edema and acute respiratory failure, developing due to the vascular endothelium dysfunction, are common side effects of anticancer therapy. This study is the first approach to create an in vitro model system to estimate vascular response at the drug development/improvement stage and to determine whether it is possible to select an antitumor drug dose effectively suppressing malignant cells without a pathological effect on the endothelial cells function. In this study (1) the doses of several clinically used antitumor drugs suppressing the common tumor cell proliferation were determined experimentally; (2) the endothelial cell viability after exposure to selected doses of these drugs was assessed in vitro; (3) changes in the endothelial monolayer condition, as well as cultured endothelial cell reactions and intracellular disorders accompanying the effects of selected drugs doses were studied in vitro using the intravital observations and super-resolution microscopy methods. This approach allowed to select antitumor drug concentrations inhibiting cell proliferation in selected tumor lines, but having no critical effect on the viability of endothelial cells and their cytoskeletal structures. As the result, an in vitro model system for studying the side effects of medications on vascular permeability was created.