Correlation of cytotoxicity with elimination of iodine-125 from nude mice inoculated with prelabeled human melanoma cells.

BRO human melanoma cells were prelabeled in vitro with [125I]5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine ([125I]IdUrd) and inoculated into NIH-II nude mice ip, im, sc, or iv. Saline or diphtheria toxin (DT), which is selectively toxic to human cells compared to those of mice, was injected, and the loss of 125I from the animals was monitored daily with a whole-body gamma scintillation detector. For most of the inoculation sites DT accelerated the rate of 125I excretion and in all cases was cytotoxic for the inoculated cells as determined by host survival or measurement of visible tumor growth. Differences between the rates of 125I loss for DT-treated mice compared to untreated mice were most evident for cells inoculated ip or im. These results indicate that [125I]IdUrd prelabeling of human tumor cells inoculated in nude mice offers a rapid method for determination of cytotoxicity in vivo.