Enhancement of cyclophosphamide cytotoxicity in vivo by the benzamide analogue pyrazinamide.

The ability of pyrazinamide to enhance the in vivo cytotoxicity of cyclophosphamide in Lewis lung and RIF-1 tumours was investigated. Using an in vivo/in vitro excision assay a large single dose of pyrazinamide (500 mg kg-1 i.p.) was shown to enhance the tumour cell killing by cyclophosphamide. This enhancement was greatest when pyrazinamide was administered before the alkylating agent and had a dose-modifying effect on all cyclophosphamide doses tested, giving rise to a mean (+/- 1 s.e.) enhancement ratio (ER) of 1.54 (+/- 0.15) for the Lewis lung and 1.24 (+/- 0.08) for the RIF-1 tumour. Pyrazinamide also increased the cytotoxic action of cyclophosphamide in a normal tissue, namely white blood cell counts. However, the ER was only 1.14 (+/- 0.08), which although not significantly different from the value seen in RIF-1 was significantly less than the ER obtained with Lewis lung, suggesting the possibility of a therapeutic gain. This benzamide analogue did not appear to inhibit recovery from cyclophosphamide-induced potentially lethal damage in tumours, nor did it alter the bioactivation of cyclophosphamide or the subsequent clearance of the cytotoxic species from the plasma, so the mechanism for this chemosensitisation remains unclear.