Sensitivity of cultured human pancreatic carcinoma cells to dihydroxyanthracenedione

Multimodality treatment of non-small cell lung cancer: response to cisplatin, VP-16, and 5-FU chemotherapy and to surgery and radiation therapy

Twenty-one patients with unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), 11 with stage III M0, five with malignant pleural effusion, and five with a single resectable metastasis were treated with multimodality therapy. All received two to three cycles of preoperative chemotherapy with a new sequential combination of cisplatin (50 mg/m2 IV X 1) followed by 5-FU infusion (40 mg/m2/hr X 72) and etoposide (80 mg/m2/day X 3). Thirteen of 21 (62%) had a partial response, and three (14%) had a minor response to chemotherapy. Of the 19 who underwent surgical exploration, 17 were confirmed to have NSCLC. Ten patients with NSCLC and one with choriocarcinoma were rendered disease free by resection of the primary tumor and lymph nodes. Six received intra- and/or perioperative interstitial therapy with 125I and/or 192Ir. Another patient was treated with 32P. Postoperative external radiotherapy was administered in 15 patients, and adjuvant chemotherapy was administered in ten. This multimodality therapy was well tolerated, safe, and highly effective, resulting in excellent palliation even in patients with pleural effusion and metastasis. The most promising results were in unresectable stage III M0 with a partial response rate of 82% following neoadjuvant chemotherapy and a complete response rate of 73% after surgery. In this group, median survival has not yet been reached and will exceed 12 months.

The assessment of the chemotherapeutic effects of vinca alkaloids by immunofluorescence and flow cytometry

The effects of the vinca alkaloids on the rates of DNA synthesis in the human pancreatic carcinoma line, MIA Pa Ca-2 have been studied by a new technique for measuring cell kinetics and DNA synthesis by flow cytometry and immunofluorescence. The method employs a monoclonal antibody that is highly specific for bromodeoxyuridine or iododeoxyuridine. The drugs vincristine and vindesine do not appear to have a direct effect on DNA synthesis rate across S phase, whereas DHAD, a compound that has been found previously to affect DNA synthesis, does appear by this technique to inhibit DNA synthesis at specific segments of S phase. That vincristine does not block cells in S phase by inhibiting DNA synthesis is borne out of the observation that cells blocked in S or G2 + M can still incorporate BrdUrd at a high rate in these phases of the cell cycle.