Growth of malignant gynecological tumors xenotransplanted into thymusaplastic nu/nu mice.

Tissues of 447 malignant gynecological tumors were subcutaneously xenotransplanted into thymusaplastic nu/nu mice (NMRI). The average rate of takes was 75% with a range from 53% in mammary carcinomas to 94% in sarcomas. However, for therapeutic experiments sufficient growth is necessary. In addition to the take rate, growth rapidity and feasibility of passage were defined for growth behavior of transplants. Only 40-50% of the transplants that took were suitable for further experiments. In addition to tumor type the influence of histological differentiation, clinical stage, origin of tumor tissue (primary or metastasis), and steroid receptor content on the growth of xenotransplants was demonstrated. Poorly differentiated tissue of tumor metastases without steroid hormone receptors grew best on nude mice. Because of the different growth behavior, the nude mouse model is not suited as a pretherapeutic individual test model for every patient in gynecologic oncology. But the nude mouse model is excellent for testing new cytostatics or new therapeutic approaches in human tumor tissue in vivo.