[Animal experiments using adjuvant 5-FU and BCNU chemotherapy in stomach cancer]

Primary xenotransplantation of tissue from six human gastric cancers onto 'nude' mice was followed by a positive tumor take in all cases. One tumor showed aggressive growth and underwent a series of four passages on 'nude' mice. Characteristics of this tumor were an increasing speed of growth and pathohistological changes in the growth pattern. Chemotherapy with 5-FU and BCNU was followed by a decrease in volume compared with untreated controls. On the basis of our results a comparison between groups of patients and tumor-bearing 'nude' mice undergoing this chemotherapy is justified.