BACKGROUND: The hamster Greene melanoma (HGM) implanted in the anterior chamber of the rabbit eye has been used to study experimental therapies for human uveal melanoma. However, the occurrence of spontaneous necrosis limits the value of this model for long-term evaluation of experimental treatments. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that an immune response is the cause of this necrosis and that prevention of the immune response can prolong the experimentation time METHODS: HGM was implanted in the anterior chamber of control, presensitized and immunosuppressed rabbits. The effects of sensitization and immunosuppression were assessed by clinical and histological observation RESULTS: Sensitization led to a significant slowing down of tumor growth, but not to a difference in necrosis. Immunosuppressive treatment with cyclosporin A improved the success rate of implantation and decreased the amount of necrosis in the tumor CONCLUSION: The immune response plays a role in the occurrence of necrosis. However, although immunosuppressive treatment with cyclosporin A decreased the amount of necrosis, significant necrosis still occurred, suggesting that other factors like angiogenesis play a part as well and still limit the usefulness of this model in the long-term evaluation of experimental therapies.
BACKGROUND: The hamster Greene melanoma (HGM) implanted in the anterior chamber of the rabbit eye has been used to study experimental therapies for humanuveal melanoma. However, the occurrence of spontaneous necrosis limits the value of this model for long-term evaluation of experimental treatments. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that an immune response is the cause of this necrosis and that prevention of the immune response can prolong the experimentation time METHODS: HGM was implanted in the anterior chamber of control, presensitized and immunosuppressed rabbits. The effects of sensitization and immunosuppression were assessed by clinical and histological observation RESULTS: Sensitization led to a significant slowing down of tumor growth, but not to a difference in necrosis. Immunosuppressive treatment with cyclosporin A improved the success rate of implantation and decreased the amount of necrosis in the tumor CONCLUSION: The immune response plays a role in the occurrence of necrosis. However, although immunosuppressive treatment with cyclosporin A decreased the amount of necrosis, significant necrosis still occurred, suggesting that other factors like angiogenesis play a part as well and still limit the usefulness of this model in the long-term evaluation of experimental therapies.
Authors: R Braakman; P van der Valk; J L van Delft; D de Wolff-Rouendaal; J A Oosterhuis Journal: Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci Date: 1989-05 Impact factor: 4.799
Authors: K A Franken; J L van Delft; T M Dubbelman; D de Wolff-Rouendaal; J A Oosterhuis; W M Star; H P Marijnissen Journal: Curr Eye Res Date: 1985-05 Impact factor: 2.424