Cancer research
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Comparative Study
Combined modality treatment using radiation and/or chemotherapy in an athymic nude mouse-human medulloblastoma and glioblastoma xenograft model.
A human medulloblastoma (BN-2) and a glioblastoma (BN-3) which were previously established in nude mice were used to determine the effect of combined modality therapy with gamma-radiation, and three chemotherapeutic agents, procarbazine, 1,4-cyclohexadiene-1,4-dicarbamic acid, 2,5-bis(1-aziridinyl)-3,6-dioxo diethylester (AZQ), and 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU). The tumor cells were grown in tissue culture and implanted intracranially in the right cerebral hemisphere of NIH Swiss nude mice to a depth of 3 mm. The mice were randomized, and treatment was started 3 days after tumor implantation. ⋯ The combination treatment using AZQ and BCNU showed no ILS for the medulloblastoma tumor. Combination treatment of the human glioblastoma xenograft using BCNU produced significant ILSs of 105 and 119% and was superior to single-modality treatment with a drug dose of 10 mg/kg and radiation doses of 540 and 800 rads, respectively. The nude mouse-human tumor xenograft model was found to be useful for combined modality studies and should give valuable information for the experimental design of pilot Phase III clinical studies against a variety of brain tumors.