Chemotherapy of the transplantable acute leukemia L5222 in rats.

This study presents results of single-drug and combination chemotherapy of the transplantable acute leukemia L5222 in BD IX rats. In leukemia L5222 there is a direct relationship between the number of transplanted cells and mean life expectancy. After single-drug therapy with L-asparaginase, 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU), cyclophosphamide, cytosine arabinoside, daunomycin, 6-mercaptopurine, methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) dihydrochloride, prednisolone, or vincristine, the best therapeutic effect was observed with BCNU and cyclophosphamide. A massive-dose therapy with BCNU repeated twice or a conbination of vincristine with cyclophosphamide or BCNU with cyclophosphamide yielded a high percentage of cures. Morever, leukemia L5222 seems to be suitable for studying the influence of drugs on the proliferation kinetics of leukemia cells.