Modification of tumour radiation response in vivo by the benzamide analogue pyrazinamide.

Pyrazinamide, the pyrazine analogue of nicotinamide, has been evaluated for its ability to modify the radiation response of hypoxic cells both in vivo and in vitro. Results obtained with three different murine tumour systems EMT6, LLC and SCCVII showed that pyrazinamide at a dose of 0.5 mg g-1 i.p. resulted in enhanced radiation response. Dose modification factors of between 1.3 and 1.6 were observed using in vivo/in vitro clonogenic assays. This enhancement was greater than that obtained in mouse intestine using crypt cell survival as an endpoint (DMF 1.1). In contrast to the tumour data in vivo, the in vitro results indicate that pyrazinamide displays little radiosensitising or toxic properties towards hypoxic CHO cells in culture. These results suggest that pyrazinamide exerts its effects in vivo either by directly perturbing tumour physiology or by being converted to an active metabolite. Blood flow studies performed using laser Doppler flowmetry indicate that pyrazinamide produces a small (32%) increase in overall tumour blood flow in the SCCVII tumour. Based on this finding, additional studies on tumour perfusion at the microregional level were performed in the SCCVII tumour using a histological technique involving injection of fluorescent stains which demarcate functional vasculature. The data show that when compared to saline injected controls, pyrazinamide reduced the number of vessels opening and closing over a 20 min period from 10.2% to 3.8%. This finding suggests that pyrazinamide may exert its effects at least in part by reducing the occurrence of acute hypoxia resulting from dynamic changes in microregional perfusion.