[Assessment of the establishing individual protocol for effective chemotherapy of ovarian cancer--fundamental research using human tumor-nude mouse system]

Experimental chemotherapy was performed using the human tumor-nude mouse system. The tumors were mucinous cystadenocarcinoma (OVA-1), undifferentiated carcinoma (OVA-2), endometrioid adenocarcinoma (OVA-3), serous cystadenocarcinoma (OVA-4) and three yolk sac tumors (YST-1, -2, -3). The drugs tested were adriamycin, bleomycin, cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, 5-fluorouracil, ifosfamide, mitomycin C, vinblastine, etoposide and teniposide. The dosages employed here were about one-third and one-ninth of the LD50 used for conventional mice. The results obtained were as follows: 1 A clear correlation between the antitumor activity of the drug and the histological type of the tumor was observed. The results indicated the importance of making a chemotherapeutic protocol according to the histological type of the individual tumor. 2 The antitumor activity depended on the dosage of the drug. The results suggested that it was necessary to increase the dosage of the anticancer drugs to obtain further clinical effects on patients with ovarian cancer. 3 The administration of a single drug in a sufficient dosage produced more effective antitumor activity rather than multidrug treatment. The results suggested that combination chemotherapy might not necessarily be the best way to effectively treat patients with ovarian cancer.