Nephrotoxic and cytoproliferative effects of streptozotocin: report of a patient with multiple hormone-secreting islet cell carcinoma.

The nephrotoxic and cytoproliferative side effects observed in a patient with Streptozotocin-treated, multiple hormone-secreting, pancreatic islet cell carcinoma are described. Streptozotocin induced prolonged partial remission of the patient's multiendocrine syndrome but resulted in progressive azotemia, which was controlled by temporary hemodialysis. A renal biopsy, the first to be reported in detail in such a condition, demonstrated a tubulo-interstitial nephritis and a glomerular alteration consisting of cellular nodules. At autopsy there were numerous bilateral renal cortical spindle cell "tumors" and cellular aggregates in glomeruli. These findings suggest that the tumorigenic effects of Streptozotocin demonstrated in animals may also occur in man.