In vivo model of pseudomyxoma peritonei for novel candidate drug discovery.

Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) is a clinical condition characterized by diffuse intraabdominal spread of mucinous tumor implants that form on peritoneal surfaces. To complement the efficacy of cytoreductive surgery, an effective cytotoxic drug is required as an intraperitoneal agent for microscopic cytoreduction locoregionally. To develop a model for drug discovery, human pseudomyxoma peritonei tumor implants consisting of a mixture of mucin and epithelial cells were injected into the peritoneal cavity of CBH/rnu/rnu rats. A fixed quantity of tumor (2 ml) was implanted in each of the 9 male rats. Over 90 days, all rats developed PMP indicating that this in vivo animal model may become useful platform in a drug discovery program to allow drug efficacy testing against human PMP.