Human tumor xenografts in athymic (nude) mice: chemotherapy trials in serially transplanted tumors

In a total of 38 consecutive attempts at transplanting freshly excised malignant human neoplasms in athymic nu/nu mice during the past year, 12 resulted in successful xenografts. To date, all of these have been subsequently transplanted for two or more generations. These successful xenografts include two squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck, three squamous cell carcinomas and one undifferentiated large cell carcinoma of the lung, three adenocarcinomas of ovarian or endometrial origin, and one carcinoma of each of the following sites: urinary bladder, stomach, and colon. Chemotherapy trials on three different squamous cell carcinomas serially transplanted in nude mice revealed three different degrees of sensitivity to bleomycin. One tumor which was markedly sensitive to bleomycin showed only a slight response to cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II). These chemotherapy trials will be expanded to wider panel of transplantable human squamous cells cacinomas of different origins with anti-tumor agents used singly or in combination.