[Antitumor effects of human interferon on human tumors heterotransplanted into nude mice]

The effects of human interferon on the growth of xenografted human tumors were studied. Human lymphoblastoid interferon (IFN) was administered intraperitoneally to nude mice with yolk sac tumors of the ovary (YST-1 and YST-2) and endometrial carcinoma (AD-19). IFN inhibited the growth of YST-1 tumor at a dose of 1.0 X 10(6)u/kg/day for twenty one days, and AD-19 tumor at a dose of 1.0 X 10(6)u/kg/day for twenty eight days. On the other hand, IFN failed to inhibit the growth of YST-2 tumor at a dose of 1.0 X 10(6)u/kg/day for eight days. The coefficient of correlation between tumor volume and serum alpha-fetoprotein of tumor-bearing mice was 0.51 in YST-1 and 0.42 in YST-2. No morphologic difference was observed between tumor cells from IFN-treated mice and control tumor-bearing mice. No severe weight loss of tumor-bearing mice was recognized after treatment with IFN. From these results, the usefulness of IFN for clinical treatment was suggested.