RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Retinoids and Cancer: Antitumor Effect of ATRA and of a New Derivative of Retinoic Acid, IIF, on Colon Carcinoma Cell Lines CaCo-2 and HT-29 JF Anticancer Research JO Anticancer Res FD International Institute of Anticancer Research SP 1779 OP 1784 VO 24 IS 3A A1 G. BARTOLINI A1 K. AMMAR A1 B. MANTOVANI A1 F. SCANABISSI A1 A.M. FERRERI A1 P. ROCCHI A1 M. ORLANDI YR 2004 UL http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/24/3A/1779.abstract AB Vitamin A and its metabolic forms, like all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), are used with promising results in the treatment of many tumors. Two major problems in the clinical use of retinoids are that the doses needed for successful treatment are often toxic, leading to “hypervitaminosis A syndrome” and that patients often develop drug resistance. In order to find compounds that can overcome these problems, many new derivatives of retinoids have been synthesized and tested. Here we present a study on the effect of a new derivative of retinoic acid, IIF (pat.WIPO W0 00/17143), on growth and differentiation of two colon carcinoma cell lines, CaCo-2 and HT-29, with different degrees of tumorigenicity, the second one being more undifferentiated. The effect of IIF was compared with that of ATRA, whose antitumoral action on colon cancer cells and other tumoral cells is widely described in the literature. Besides exerting a strong antiproliferative effect, even higher than that of ATRA, IIF induced cellular differentiation, as demonstrated by the appearance of morphological (domes and microvilli formation) and biochemical (alkaline phosphatase induction) markers. Therefore, these findings indicate the new retinoid IIF as a possible candidate in the treatment of colon cancer. Copyright© 2004 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved