Human tumour xenografts growing in immunodeficient mice: a useful model for assessing chemotherapeutic agents in bronchial carcinoma.

Xenografts from eight human bronchial carcinomas have been established in CBA/Lac mice rendered immunodeficient by neonatal thymectomy followed three weeks later by whole body irradiation (7.35 Gy (735 rads)) after a priming dose of cytosine arabinoside. Growth rates of individual tumour lines remain constant and the histological and chromosomal characteristics of the original tumour are maintained through multiple serial passages over many months. With specific growth delay as the principal end point this system may be used to assess the response of histologically different lung tumours to chemotherapeutic agents.