[Proliferation kinetics of human brain tumors by in situ double labeling with bromodeoxyuridine and iododeoxyuridine].

Nineteen patients with human brain tumors (9 gliomas, 6 metastatic brain tumors, 3 meningiomas, 1 neurinoma) received intravenous infusions of iododeoxyuridine (IUdR) and bromodeoxyuridine (BUdR) at different time sequences, to estimate the duration of S-phase (Ts) and the potential doubling time (Tp) of individual tumors. Excised tumor specimens were reacted with Br-3, a monoclonal antibody that identifies only BUdR, and with IU-4, a monoclonal antibody that recognizes both IUdR and BUdR, and then were stained immunohistochemically. The BUdR LIs varied from 0.9% to 26.0%, reflecting the malignancy of each tumor. Despite the difference in LIs, however, the Ts measured was fairly uniform. The Ts was 8.9 +/- 1.8 hrs (mean +/- SD) in malignant gliomas, 9.2 +/- 2.5 hrs (mean +/- SD) in metastatic brain tumors and 9.2 +/- 0. 3 hrs (mean +/- SD) in meningiomas, respectively. In contrast, the Tp varied from 1.3 to 12.4 days in malignant gliomas and from 1.2 to 4.4 days in metastatic brain tumors. Double logarithmic regression analysis showed a close correlation between the BUdR LI and Tp in human brain tumors with LI > 1%. Double labeling studies with BUdR and IUdR allow some of the proliferation characteristics to be determined from a single biopsy specimen and provide more useful information of each tumors than can be obtained by single-labeling studies with BUdR.