Large Shionogi tumors lose their responsiveness to flutamide treatment

Cancer of the prostate is the most frequent cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in men in North America. The growth of Shionogi carcinoma-115 (SC-115) cells is highly sensitive to androgens, and this cell line is a well known experimental model of prostate cancer. The transplantable Shionogi carcinoma tumor was used to assess the influence of tumor size on the response to flutamide treatment. Two weeks after subcutaneous inoculation of tumor fragments in Shionogi mice, six groups of animals bearing SC-115 tumors ranging from 0.1 to 1.8 cm in diameter were treated with flutamide (1 mg, twice daily). The castrated mice received an androstenedione (delta4-dione) implant to mimic the human situation, where the adrenals produce precursor steroids which are transformed into androgens in peripheral intracrine tissues. After 16 days, treatment with flutamide inhibited tumor growth by 32 to 57% in the four groups of mice having tumors ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 cm in diameter at day 0, whereas no significant inhibitory effect was observed in larger tumors. The same treatment, however, caused potent inhibitory effects on other androgen-sensitive parameters, namely prostatic and seminal vesicle weight and kidney ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity, the effect on these parameters being similar in all groups of animals, irrespective of tumor size. Furthermore, when those larger tumors unresponsive to antiandrogenic treatment were cut into small fragments and inoculated into new groups of mice, the same treatment with flutamide efficiently inhibited tumor growth, treatment being started at tumor sizes of 0.1 to 0.3 cm in diameter. The present data clearly demonstrate that small tumors are highly sensitive to androgen deprivation, while loss of response develops with increasing tumor size, thus indicating that, for optimal efficacy, androgen blockade should be given at the early stages of prostate cancer.