THERAPEUTIC RESPONSE OF HUMAN-TUMOR XENOGRAFTS IN ATHYMIC MICE TO DOXORUBICIN

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  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 41  (1) , 325-335
Abstract
To establish the usefulness of the human tumor-nude mouse system as a predictive screen for anticancer agents, 17 tumors (3 breast, 3 colon, 3 lung, 3 melanoma, 2 ovary, 1 prostate, 1 sarcoma and 1 larynx), serially transplantable in athymic mice, were used to study antitumor activity of doxorubicin (adriamycin). BALB/c nude mice were treated i.v. on a weekly basis for 3-4 wk, starting when the tumor volume became relatively large (advanced stage of tumor treatment). All tumors except lung tumor T 293 cells showed a 90-100% take rate and stable growth. Doxorubicin, at dose levels of 6 and 10 mg/kg per injection i.v. every week for 3 wk, showed significant activity against all 3 breast tumors studied. As expected based on clinical data, doxorubicin showed no antitumor activity against the 3 different colon tumors. In the case of lung tumors, statistically significant activities against oat cell carcinoma T 293 and epidermoid carcinoma T 222 cells were observed. In contradiction to clinical data, doxorubicin had significant activity against various melanomas studied and slight but not statistically significant activity against ovarian tumor T 17 cells. Experimental results obtained using doxorubicin against prostate, sarcoma and larynx tumors parallel the reported clinical data.