Growth characteristics of human colorectal and non-small cell lung tumors xenografted into nude mice: possible correlation with prognosis.

Specimens from human colorectal tumors and from non-small-cell lung tumors obtained at surgery were subcutaneously implanted as xenografts in athymic Swiss mice of both sexes to investigate to what extent the properties of the original tumors were maintained. A successful take was obtained in 5 of 9 colorectal tumor and 6 of 11 non-small-cell lung tumor xenografts. Moreover, 44% and 45% of the respective tumors could be established as tumor lines. Neither metastases nor local tumor invasion was observed in tumor-bearing mice. Seven of 9 serially transplantable tumors had a short latency period (14-30.5 days) when first xenografted. No significant changes in tumor histopathology were noted after growth into nude mice. Tumor take was partially related to clinical stage and prognosis of patients. In fact, 8 of 12 specimens from N0 patients failed to grow, whereas 7 of 8 tumors from patients with nodal invasion and/or metastasis grew in nude mice. Moreover, for the group of patients whose tumor was "take - ", the one-year survival was 85%, compared to 40% for the "take + " group (p less than 0.05).