[Subrenal capsule assay for chemosensitivity test of urinary tract cancers]

Subrenal capsule assay as a chemosensitivity test was performed on 8 renal cell carcinomas and 7 transitional cell carcinomas using athymic mice. Twelve of the 15 trials were considered suitable for evaluable assay. In 2 of the 3 non-evaluable trials the histological examination showed fibroblasts without cancer cells in the implants of the control group while the implants grew macroscopically. No host cell infiltration was observed microscopically in any implant of the control groups of evaluable assays. Mice were treated with several anticancer agents and sensitivities were evaluated by the tumor growth inhibition rate (TGIR) on the day 10 or 12 and by histological changes. No correspondence was observed between TGIR and histological changes. The characteristic histological finding of the treated groups of transitional cell carcinomas was cystic degeneration and it seemed to be a factor of the discordance between TGIR and the histological changes.