Effect of a combination of mild-temperature hyperthermia and nicotinamide on the radiation response of experimental tumors.

Ogawa, A., Griffin, R. J. and Song, C. W. Effect of a Combination of Mild-Temperature Hyperthermia and Nicotinamide on the Radiation Response of Experimental Tumors. The effect of mild-temperature hyperthermia and nicotinamide individually or combined on tumor radiosensitivity was investigated with SCK tumors grown s.c. in the right hind limbs of A/J mice. An i.p. injection of nicotinamide at 50-250 mg/kg slightly enhanced the cell killing caused by 10-20 Gy of ionizing radiation as determined by the in vivo/in vitro tumor excision assay. Treatment of tumors with mild-temperature hyperthermia at 41.5 degrees C for 60 min prior to tumor irradiation was significantly more effective than nicotinamide and the combination of nicotinamide and hyperthermia was far more effective than nicotinamide or hyperthermia alone in enhancing radiation-induced cell killing. Radiation-induced tumor growth delay was enhanced by a factor of 1.2 by 50 mg/kg nicotinamide, 2.1 by hyperthermia, and 3.6 by the combination of nicotinamide and hyperthermia. Taking these results and those of our previous studies together, we conclude that mild-temperature hyperthermia increases tumor blood flow and oxygenation and that combining mild-temperature hyperthermia and nicotinamide is more effective than either of these alone in increasing tumor radiosensitivity.