[Effect of UFT by oral administration using a murine hepatic metastasis model]

We examined the antitumor effect of UFT, a 5-FU derivative using a hepatic metastasis model in mice. BALB/c and CDF1 mice were given orally UFT (30 mg/kg, 50 mg/kg daily or 120 mg/kg every other day) for 20 days after inoculation of colon-26 tumor cells into the portal vein. The number of metastatic nodules and the weight of the liver decreased significantly in all groups of UFT treatment. The therapeutic effect with 50 mg/kg UFT was better than those with the other doses. NK and LAK activities of spleen cells obtained from UFT-treated tumor bearing mice were not significantly different from the untreated control. IL-1 and IL-2 production of the spleen cells were also not significantly changed by the treatment with UFT. These results suggested that the oral administration of UFT represents an antitumor effect against hepatic metastasis in mice without sever suppression of the host immune system.