N-[4-(5-nitro-2-furyl)-2-thiazolyl] formamide-induced bladder cancer in mice: augmentation by sutures through the bladder wall.

The augmenting effect of chronic inflammation on bladder cancer was studied in female Swiss mice treated with N-[4-(5-nitro-2-furyl)-2-thiazolyl] formamide (FANFT), 0.15% by weight of diet for 20 weeks. To produce chronic inflammation one silk suture and one catgut suture were placed through the bladder wall of 63 mice to receive FANFT and 18 to receive normal diet. In remaining mice (no. = 62) the bladder was simply touched without suture insertion. Thirty-two animals treated with FANFT and 33 treated with FANFT + sutures also received supplements to their drinking water throughout the experiment of the sulfhydryl-reducing agent N-acetylcysteine (500 mg./kg. body weight/day). Seven weeks following FANFT treatment, bladder cancers developed in 12% of mice with sutures and FANFT and in 19% of those with sutures, FANFT, and N-acetylcysteine. No cancers developed in mice receiving FANFT alone or FANFT with N-acetylcysteine and none in mice treated with sutures only. Placement of silk sutures through the bladder wall of mice augments FANFT-induced bladder cancer. N-acetylcysteine at these doses does not influence the incidence.