Ultrastructural effects of alpha and gamma interferons and cytostatics on ovarian cancer cells in the subrenal capsule assay (SRCA).

Ovarian cancers from 9 patients were grown in the subrenal capsule assay for 6 days. Groups of five mice were treated with saline, alpha interferon, a combination of alpha and gamma interferons and 2 cytostatic drug combinations with and without alpha interferon. The histological evaluation suggested that the regression of drug-treated transplants measured with stereomicroscope can reliably be used as an indicator of drug effect. However, it is possible that in a few cases the control growth measured with preparation microscope is somewhat exaggerated due to inflammatory reactions induced by the grafts. At the ultrastructural level, the cell, nuclear and mitochondrial volumes were morphometrically evaluated. The cytostatic treatment caused marked degenerative changes with nuclear enlargement and cytoplasmic vacuolization of the tumour cells. Only small differences could be detected between the control groups and the interferon-treated groups. In these groups, the nuclear and cytoplasmic volumes were not significantly different, whereas the mitochondrial volume was larger in the interferon-treated cells.