Korean J Obstet Gynecol.  2003 Aug;46(8):1517-1524.

The Effect of Levofloxacin on the Survival of Ovarian Cancer Cells with or Without Carboplatin Under Hypoxic Condition

• Hong SY
• Park JH
• Kim EJ
• Lee JW
• Koh SB
• Lee TS

Abstract

In solid tumor, there is a hypoxic region where oxygen supply is insufficient. In this study, we found that one of the quinolone antibiotics, levofloxacin, made a human ovarian cancer cells, SK-OV-3, resistant to hypoxia, even in the presence of a platinum-based anti-cancer therapeutic, carboplatin; when the cells (2 X 10(5) cells/12 well multi culture dish) were grown in no glucose medium (0 g/l) under hypoxia (1% O2), all the cells became dead after 24 hours of culture in the absence of levofloxacin and carboplatin, whereas the cells still survived, at least, until 36 hours of culture in the presence of levofloxacin (10-100 microgram/ml) alone or in combination with carboplatin. The results might have some implications in treating solid tumor; if cancer patients should be treated for infection with antibiotics, quinolone antibiotics can aggravate tumor by making cancer cells more resistant to hypoxia. This is also true even when a patient is treated with carboplatin. Therefore, the results strongly suggest that we should be careful in choosing antibiotics when they are used for cancer patients. In this regard, our work could be a new guideline in choosing antibiotics when antibiotics are applied for treating cancer patients.

Keyword

Carboplatin; Levofloxacin; Hypoxia; Cell survival; Ovarian cancer cell

MeSH Terms

Anoxia
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Carboplatin*
Cell Survival
Glucose
Humans
Levofloxacin*
Ovarian Neoplasms*
Oxygen
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Carboplatin
Glucose
Oxygen