Treatment of an intracerebral rat brain tumor with Corynebacterium parvum and radiation.

Rats bearing intracranial brain tumors were treated with single ip injections of the killed Corynebacterium parvum, a single dose of X-rays, or a combination of both treatments. Animals given injections of 2.6 mg C. parvum 12 days after implantation of the tumor had a median survival time (MST) of 50 days compared with an MST of 44 days for an untreated group. These animals given C. parvum had a 33% increased life-span (ILS) that was significant at the P=0.05 level. Although the MST of animals that received C. parvum 2 days before a tumor X-ray dose of 3,015 rads on day 14 was greater than that of rats given irradiation alone, the ILS of the group administered both treatments was not significant relative to the latter group. The MST of animals that received C. parvum 7 days before irradiation was not different from that of animals given injections of C. parvum 1 day postirradiation.