Abstract
The incorporation of mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor (c-Met) inhibitors with conventional chemotherapeutics may increase the anticancer efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents, but bears the risk of enhancing the adverse effects. To test the hypothesis, co-administration of the novel c-Met inhibitor capmatinib with cisplatin (CIS) or doxorubicin (DOX) was investigated on nephrotoxicity and cardiotoxicity induced by these agents in mice, as well as their in vitro cytotoxicities. The results demonstrated that capmatinib in vivo offered protection against nephrotoxicity and cardiotoxicity by both CIS and DOX, respectively. The underlying mechanisms behind capmatinib protective effect were found to be i) limiting excessive generation of reactive oxygen species by decreasing the level of lipid peroxidation and nitrosative stress products; and ii) suppressing overproduction of pro-inflammatory mediators like TNF-alpha and IL-6 that coincided with less inflammatory cell infiltration as denoted by lower levels of serum MCP-1 and Ly6G immunostaining. Besides, capmatinib effectively improved the in vivo anticancer efficacy of both CIS and DOX against solid tumors. In vitro, capmatinib increased the apoptotic activity of DOX against cancerous cells, but did not affect that of CIS. This effect might be linked to capmatinib and DOX abilities to lower IL-12(p40) that has an inhibitory effect on IL-12(p70)/IFN-gamma-mediated apoptotic activity. In conclusion, the favorable effects of capmatinib can be applied clinically to decrease the toxicity of DOX and CIS chemotherapeutic agents.