Combining bioreductive drugs and radiation for the treatment of solid tumors.

Methods now exist for the identification of human tumors that contain significant numbers of hypoxic cells and are thereby suitable for treatment with bioreductive drugs to eliminate this refractory cell population. However, to fully exploit the potential of bioreductive drugs, they will need to be used in combination with other modalities likely to target the proliferating aerobic cells in the tumor. Radiation is the treatment that is most effective in killing aerobic cells; therefore, the present report reviews the available preclinical data on combined radiation/bioreductive drug treatments. Copyright 2003, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.