Treatment of five subcutaneous human glioma tumor lines in athymic mice with carmustine, procarbazine, and mithramycin.

Five human glioma tumor lines were transplanted subcutaneously in athymic nude mice. Three of the lines (D-54 MG, U-118 MG, and U-251 MG) were derived from permanent human glioma cell lines, while the other two lines (N-456 and N-519) were established as direct xenografts in mice. Growth rates varied among the lines, but all were treated at a common average tumor volume of 200-300 mm3. Three drugs of known clinical activity against human anaplastic glial tumors were tested in this system. Procarbazine (PCB) produced significant responses in all five tumor lines, carmustine produced significant growth delays in two, and mithramycin produced a slight growth delay in only one. A carmustine-PCB combination produced a greater therapeutic effect than either agent alone against D-54 MG, but the combination was no more effective than PCB alone against U-118 MG. These results parallel clinical experience and indicate that this is a useful model for testing agents of potential activity in brain tumor therapy.