Vinorelbine Potently Induces Placental Cell Death, Does Not Harm Fertility and is a Potential Treatment for Ectopic Pregnancy

Roxanne Hastie; Elgene Lim; Pavel Sluka; Lisa Campbell; Andrew W Horne; Lenore Ellett; Natalie J Hannan; Fiona Brownfoot; Tu'uhevaha J Kaitu'u-Lino; Stephen Tong

Journal article

Vinorelbine Potently Induces Placental Cell Death, Does Not Harm Fertility and is a Potential Treatment for Ectopic Pregnancy

Roxanne Hastie, Elgene Lim, Pavel Sluka, Lisa Campbell, Andrew W Horne, Lenore Ellett, Natalie J Hannan, Fiona Brownfoot, Tu'uhevaha J Kaitu'u-Lino, Stephen Tong

EBIOMEDICINE | ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV | Published : 2018

DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2018.01.041

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Abstract

Ectopic pregnancies complicate 1-2 pregnancies and are a leading cause of maternal death. An effective oral drug therapy that replaces surgery might make its treatment safer, cheaper, simpler and therefore more widely accessible. The only current medical treatment offered to women is intramuscular methotrexate, but this only reliably resolves smaller ectopic pregnancies. As such, many ectopic pregnancies require surgical excision. We show that vinorelbine, an orally available chemotherapeutic agent, potently induced placental cell death but did not harm fertility in mice. Vinorelbine was 100-1000 times more potent than methotrexate in inducing placental cell death in vitro, and more potent t..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Tu'uhevaha Kaitu'u-Lino Author Obstetrics and Gynaecology Royal Women's Hospital/Mercy

Roxanne Hastie Author Obstetrics and Gynaecology Royal Women's Hospital/Mercy

Stephen Tong Author Obstetrics and Gynaecology Royal Women's Hospital/Mercy

Fiona Brownfoot Author Obstetrics and Gynaecology Royal Women's Hospital/Mercy

Natalie Hannan Author Obstetrics and Gynaecology Royal Women's Hospital/Mercy

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Grants

Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC of Australia)

Awarded by NHMRC Fellowships

Awarded by UK MRC Centre Grant

Awarded by Welcome Trust Research Training Fellowship

Awarded by Medical Research Council

Awarded by National Breast Cancer Foundation

Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC of Australia (#1123274) and the Austin Medical Research Foundation. R. Hastie was supported via an APA scholarship. S. Tong (#1050765) and T.K. Kaitu'u-Lino (#1062418) were supported by NHMRC Fellowships. N.J. Hannan was supported by a University of Melbourne CR Roper Fellowship. AH is supported by a UK MRC Centre Grant (MR/N022556/1). LC is supported by a Welcome Trust Research Training Fellowship (108766). The funders had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish or the preparation of the manuscript. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish or the preparation of the manuscript.