5-Fluorouracil treatment of a human colon adenocarcinoma implanted in the subrenal capsule site of athymic mice.

5-Fluorouracil was used in the treatment of a recently established. human adenocolon carcinoma implanted in the subrenal capsule site of athymic mice as part of a program to determine the relative effectiveness of antitumor agents in the treatment of human tumors grown as xenografts and in the clinic. 5-Fluorouracil treatments resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of tumor growth under the two examined schedules (five daily doses and three doses every 4 days) when administered either i.v. or i.p. The various schedules and routes resulted in similar patterns of antitumor effects when the data were based on the endpoints of either final tumor weight, change in tumor weight, or relative tumor weight. Assessments of cell viability based on histological examination of tumored kidneys resulted in a downward displacement of the dose-response curves but did not alter their shape or the interpretation of the data. Although approximately 1-mm3 tumor fragments were implanted, variability of size was allowed. Tumor growth was not dependent on the initial size of the implant, as shown by a comparison between the initial individual or average tumor sizes and the final individual or average tumor sizes, respectively. The antitumor effects of the 5-fluorouracil could have been determined on the basis of final tumor weight alone. The inhibition of tumor growth was accompanied by weight loss in treated mice as compared with controls. At lower doses, however, the weight loss of the mice was not extensive, which indicated that the inhibition of tumor growth was, at least in part, attributable to some selective antitumor action of the 5-FUra. The greatest inhibition of tumor growth, however, was accompanied by the most extensive animal weight loss. This correlation raised the question of the degree to which the tumor growth inhibition observed was a consequence of nonspecific drug toxicity to the host. The current results stress the importance of detailed investigations into the nature of host-tumor parameters in order to assess the antitumor activity of candidate drugs in the treatment of human tumor xenografts.