Adjuvant chemotherapy for murine neuroblastoma with special reference to cell kinetics of residual tumor after primary tumor removal.

Abstract

We examined the effect of adjuvant chemotherapy for neuroblastoma (C-1300NB) after surgery, especially on the increase in cells in the DNA synthetic phase in the remaining neuroblastoma from the 6th to 24th postoperative h caused by the reduction of the tumor cell in the tumor-bearing A/J mice. The mice were inoculated with C-1300NB cells in the chest and leg simultaneously, and administered adriamycin (ADM), as a cell cycle phase-specific agent, or cyclophosphamide (CPM), as a cell cycle phase nonspecific agent. The growth rate of chest tumors (residual tumors) in the mice treated with ADM just after amputation of the tumor-bearing leg was significantly lower than that of the other groups (p less than 0.05). 3H-TdR labeling indices of chest tumors in this group decreased more effectively than in the other groups. These results indicate that it is important to administer a cell cycle phase-specific agent rather than a cell cycle phase nonspecific agent during the period of rapid growth of residual tumors after surgery.