Paclitaxel potencia a hipernocicepção inflamatória : evidências da participação de citocinas e do receptor toll tipo 4 (TLR-4)

Abstract

Paclitaxel (PCX) was the first effective antineoplastic medicine in the treatment of tumors that do not respond to conventional chemotherapy. Clinically, it induces incapacitating arthralgias and myalgias that interfere with the patient quality of life and limit the duration of the treatment. This is observed in up to 57% of the patients using the drug. Despite these clinical manifestations, nothing has been published that could explain the involvement of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the triggering of the hypernociceptive effect of PCX, even though it is known that the drug shares with LPS a signaling pathway started by Toll-like receptors (TLR-2 and TLR-4) that activates genes coding for TNF-α. The literature suggests that there is a crosstalk between these two members of the Toll family and that different agonists of TLR-2 and TLR-4 are able to induce the activation of NF-kB, AP1 and MAP kinase in the generation of TNF-α, a key cytokines in the cascade liberating the final inflammatory mediators that act directly on the nociceptor. Data obtained in laboratory show that the injection of zymozan into rat knee-joints produces a periarthritis characteristic of the hypernociception seen in the knee joint incapacitation test and that PCX (8mg/kg) amplified the response when ¼ of the zymozan (ZY) doses was injected. The amplification was inhibited when animals were pre-treated with inhibitors of cytokines and prostanoids. Objective: To study the role of TNF-α and TLR-4 on the initiation of the potentiating effect of PCX on the experimental arthralgia induced by ZY. Material and Methods: Rats were pre-treated Sc with thalidomide, pentoxifiline, dexametazone, indometacin and celecoxib and then stimulated with an intra-articular subdoses of ZY (250μg/animal). After the first measurement of the paw elevation time in the knee joint incapacitation test, the animals were treated with PCX (8mg/kg ip). On a second trial, rats were treated for three consecutive days with atorvastatin (3, 10, 30mg/kg/day; VO). The following parameters were evaluated: modulation of the effect on the knee joint incapacitation test (JIT), amount of cytokines in the rat’s knee lavage (TNF-α, IL-1 β, IL-6, KC and CINC) and immunohistochemistry for TNF-α, IL-1β and TLR-4 on synovial tissue. Results: It was shown that PCX (8mg/kg) potentiates the experimental arthralgia induced by ZY in the rats as evaluated by the significant increase in paw elevation time (p<0.001) at the 4th h of arthritis in relations to controls. Such effect was significantly inhibited by pre-treatment with thalidomide (45mg/kg) and the inhibition was associated with a decrease in the amount of TNF-α produced by synovial tissue cells and detected in the joint lavage and in the immunohistochemistry for TNF-α. Likewise the inhibition of the amplifying response to PCX was seen with pre-treatment with atorvastatin at the three doses used in the experiment, which was also associated with a lower TNF-α in the joint lavage and perceptible decrease in the immunohistochemistry for TNF-α, IL-1β and TLR-4. Conclusions: PCX potentiates the hypernociception induced by ZY through an indirect effect on synovial membrane resident cells that release TNF-α probably through activation of the NF-kB pathway by TLR-4/MD2, since the potentiating effect was inhibited by atorvastatin, a TLR-4 antagonist. Released TNF-α act starting the cascade of mediators involved in the inflammatory pain and this partially explains the arthralgia in patients treated with PCX.