Effect of local hyperthermia and chemotherapy on MC29 virus-induced liver tumor transplanted into subcutis of chickens

Abstract

1. A transplantable liver tumor induced by MC29 virus, whose specific utilization ofglutamine in growth of the tumor had been well-demonstrated, was implanted in the subcutis of day-old chickens, and after 7–8 days, when the tumor had reached a soybean size, local hyperthermia with microwave and/or chemotherapy with 6-diazo-5-oxo-1-norleucine (DON), an inhibitor of glutamine metabolism, were given once a day for 7 days successively. 2. At the 7th day of experiment, the tumor growth ratio, expressed by mean ± standard deviation was, in the tumor control group, 14.3 ± 1.81; in DON group, 6.93 ± 0.95; in local hyperthermia group, 3.24 ± 2.25, and in DON + hyperthermia group, 0.61 ± 0.57. 3. The body weight-gain ratio in the local hyperthermia group was evidently higher than that in the tumor control group. DON suppressed body weight gain most remarkably. 4. In the present transplantable tumor system, microwave local hyperthermia was more effective in tumor suppression and less hazardous to the host than our former whole-body hyperthermia.