Treatment of human lung carcinoma xenografts with a combination of 131I-labelled monoclonal antibody Po66 and doxorubicin.

Po66, a mouse monoclonal antibody, is directed against an intracytoplasmic antigen present in human lung squamous cell carcinoma cells. In previous work it was found that the co-administration of 125I-radiolabelled Po66 and doxorubicin strongly enhanced the uptake of radioactivity by the tumour. The present-work was designed to evaluate, in a tumour-bearing mouse model of lung carcinoma, the ability of 131I-labelled Po66 to retard tumour growth when injected alone, or in combination with doxorubicin (8 mg kg-1 at 1-week intervals). A single dose of 550 microCi 131I-Po66 alone had no effect on tumour growth, whereas three fractionated doses of 250 microCi 131I-Po66 decreased it over two doubling times from 14.5 +/- 1.5 days for untreated control mice to 24.8 +/- 2.7 days. Mice treated with doxorubicin alone had a double tumour doubling time of 22.6 +/- 4.9 days, compared to 35.2 +/- 2.9 days (1.55-fold increase) in mice treated with doxorubicin and a single dose of 550 microCi 131I-Po66. Doxorubicin combined with three fractionated doses of 250 microCi 131I-Po66 provoked a twofold decrease in tumour growth compared to mice treated with doxorubicin alone. The administration of fractionated doses of 131I-Po66 simultaneously with doxorubicin resulted in a highly delayed mortality, which was not observed when 131I-Po66 was administered after doxorubicin. Thus, in a non-small-cell lung tumour model, a 131I-radiolabelled monoclonal antibody, directed against an intracellular antigen, significantly potentiated the effect of chemotherapy. Such a therapeutic approach could be used as an adjuvant therapy and improve the effect of chemotherapy on distant small metastases.

Ornithine decarboxylase basal activity in liver, oesophagus and lung of vitamin A deficient rats, and the effect of retinoic acid.

Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC, EC 4.1.1.17) activity was measured, without exogenous stimulation, in the liver, oesophagus and lung of Wistar rats which were vitamin A deficient or supplemented with retinol or retinoic acid. The enzyme basal activity in such deficiency conditions was higher, when compared with controls, in the oesophagus and especially in the lungs. Retinoic acid normalized enzyme activity only at high doses (300 micrograms/day). In the liver, initial retinol deficiency did not sensitively modify ODC activity, and retinoic acid then stimulated the enzyme abnormally. This phenomenon could not be observed at later stages of vitamin deficiency (but there again without cytological abnormalities or thymidine incorporation disturbances): liver ODC response then became comparable to that of other tissues. These results highlight the particular basal hyperactivity of pulmonary ODC during the initial stages of vitamin A deficiency, indicative of an enhanced tendency to cell proliferation. A special stimulating effect of retinoic acid on ODC, contemporary with early deficiency, was observed in the liver; this effect was not observed at a later stage in normally fed rats.