Human renal cell carcinoma in the six day subrenal capsule assay

The applicability of the subrenal capsule assay (SRCA) as a method for chemosensitivity testing of human renal cell carcinoma (RCC) was assessed. Tissue fragments of about one mm3. in size, obtained from patients who had undergone nephrectomy because of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), were implanted in preirradiated mice. The change of the size of the implanted tissue as well as the histology of the tissue were determined six days later. Untreated control tumors were used to determine the evaluability of the individual assays using criteria based on 1) tumor growth (an increase in tumor size or a decrease not exceeding 0.05 mm.) and 2) tumor histology (presence of carcinoma cells in at least 70% of the tissues). The first criterion was fulfilled in 20/24 (83%) of the renal tumors; tumor histology was satisfactory in 9/24 (38%) of the tumors. Taken together, only 9/24 assays were considered to be evaluable. Discrepancies between measurement and histologic appearance were also found for individual tumors and for treated tumors. Due to the lack of correlation between measurement and histology change in tumor size therefore cannot be considered a reliable parameter for assessing viability or drug activity.