Antiproliferative effect of lonidamine on a human glioblastoma multiforme cell line

Recent data from phase II trials have shown that lonidamine (LND) is effective in the treatment of tumors of various histogenesis, including gliomas. In the present work, we tested the antiproliferative effect of LND on a human glioblastoma cell line (LI) in different culture conditions. When LI are cultured in their standard conditions, a reduction of cell growth is seen after 3 days of treatment with 10(-4) M LND. It reaches 70% with respect to control after 6 days and is statistically significant. LND is ineffective at the other concentrations tested. In more stringent culture conditions, 10(-4) M LND determines a higher inhibition of cell proliferation both after 3 and 6 days of exposure, while other doses of LND are unable to affect cell growth.