Evaluation of chemotherapy in a murine model for bladder cancer.

A transplantable transitional cell murine bladder tumor induced by N-[4-(5-nitro-2-furyl)-thiazolyl] formamide (FANFT) was characterized by tumor growth, survival time and response to chemotherapy drugs, cis-dichloro-trans-dihydroxy-bis-iso-propylamine platinum IV (CHIP), cis- diaminedichloro platinum II (DDP), cyclophosphamide (CTX) and methotrexate (MTX). Nontreated tumor-bearing mice were observed to survive 43 +/- 7 days (mean +/- SEM) with an average tumor burden of 8.45 +/- 0.65 g (mean +/- SEM) of solid tumor tissue. Lung metastasis was observed in 3 animals after 42-49 days post implantation. Microscopically, the primary tumor and the lung metastasis were structurally similar. In response to chemotherapy, tumor growth was significantly retarded (p less than 0.005) in the DDP-treated group, and survival was significantly increased in the CTX-treated group (p less than 0.001). Lung metastasis was observed in all treatment and control groups. This model has specific reproducible characteristics which make it a useful murine tumor model to study locally invasive bladder cancer.