[Subrenal capsule assay for chemosensitivity testing]

The subrenal capsule (SRC) assay for cancer chemotherapy was tested according to Bogden's methodology. Of 37 patients providing tumor tissue for assay, 29 cases were considered suitable for evaluable assays. Fourteen patients had clinically evaluable diseases and 10 cases were evaluable for SRC assays. Correspondence between sensitive assay and clinical sensitivity was seen in 2 cases, and that between resistant assay and clinical resistance was seen in 4 cases. Discordance between sensitive assay and clinical resistance was seen in 4 cases. In histological studies, cancer tissues implanted in the subrenal space in immunocompetent mice did not show marked proliferation and were replaced by prominent leukocyte infiltration and fibrosis on day 6 after inoculation. The degree of leukocyte infiltration in the xenografts in the mice administered some anti-cancer drugs was slight in comparison with that in untreated control mice, which showed a remarkable trend in xenografts treated with 5-fluorouracil and cyclophosphamide, respectively. Our study suggests that there are many problems involved in the SRC assay methodology of Bogden, and that careful examination of this aspect will be required.