In vivo experiment, in vitro assays (in vivo-in vitro system) is a kind of experimental technique which is different from both in vitro cell line and tumor line. The new model can be grown and studied either as an animal tumor or a cell culture. The specimen could be assayed for cell survival in vitro. This model can be used to study the response of malignant cells to the treatment in a precision and depth that is impossible in tumors grown in vivo. LA 795 Vv-Vt is the first in vivo-in vitro system developed in China. It was established with lung adenocarcinoma of T-739 mouse. The tumor cells could grow freely both in vivo and in vitro with a plating efficiency of 20%. Characteristics of LA 795 Vv-Vt tumor and cell in culture were described and compared. In order to estimate the radiation response of different doses, cell survival curves of tumors irradiated under oxic and hypoxic conditions were drawn and compared. The oxygen enhance ratio was 2.98. The experiments indicate that in vivo-in vitro system has a good dependent relation in dose and effect and is worth extensive application.

From Feb. to Dec. 1985, 15 patients were treated with fetal liver cell transfusion (FLT). They were 10 cases with malignant tumors treated by chemotherapy (tumor group) and 5 with blood diseases (blood group). Under strict aseptic technique, 3 1/2-6 month old fetus was selected for preparing suspension of the fetal liver cells on the superclean table. The speed of FLT should be increased gradually from slow to rapid. There are 1.8 X 10(8)-4 X 10(12) fetal liver cells in a fetus of more than 5 months old, in which most are CFU-C. In the tumor group, after FLT, white blood cell, platelet and hemoglobin increased by 700-3,900/mm3, 5,000-116,000/mm3 and 0.5-2.0 gm/mm3 respectively. But in the blood group, they increased by 800-1,300/mm3, 14,000-84,000/mm3 and 0.4-11.0 gm/mm3. In most of the cases, these hematological indexes reached up to the highest in 2 weeks after FLT. It suggests that FLT can improve the peripheral blood picture obviously and stimulate bone marrow. Experiment confirms that there are considerable hematopoietic stem cells in the fetal liver, by which the functions of hematopoiesis and immunity are able to recover. It is more marked in the tumor group than in the blood group. FLT provides a favourable condition for high dose chemotherapy.

The cytotoxic effects of three anticancer drugs, methotrexate (MTX), 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) and oridonin (Rub A), were investigated using a human gastric adenocarcinoma cell line (MGc80-3) and a human esophageal cancer cell line (CaEs-17) by means of colony-forming assay, dye exclusion test, measurement of incorporation of 3H-thymidine into DNA and examination of mitotic index. MGc80-3 cells, exposed for 24 hr to increasing concentrations of MTX (0-1.6 micrograms/ml), 5-Fu (0-12 micrograms/ml) or Rub A (0-25 micrograms/ml), showed different types of dose-survival curves determined by colony-forming assay. It suggests that these drugs have different models of action. The killing effect of MTX and 5-Fu was obviously underestimated by dye exclusion; the cell numbers were reduced to about 30% and 60% of control, while the colony formation showed approximately 2.5 and 3.5-log kill. When CaEs-17 cells exposed for 6 hr to varying concentrations of Rub A (0-15 micrograms/ml), the reduction in cell number (15 micrograms/ml, T/C = 18.0%) was always less than that (15 micrograms/ml, T/C = 3.8%) in colony formation. Under the same condition, the mitotic index, however, increased with increasing dosage first, and then the T/C values, at higher concentrations (5-15 micrograms/ml), reached approximately 200%. Although the drug significantly inhibited the incorporation of 3H-thymidine, the pattern of the dose-response curve differed from the dose-survival curve. These findings in cytobiochemistry and morphology may contribute to explain the cytotoxicity of an anticancer drug, but failed in correlation with the data obtained by colony-forming assay which seems to be the most reliable method for determining drug-induced cell lethality.

The transplantable mouse pancreas cancer cell line (MPC-83) has been established for two years, and transplanted serially into Kunming strain (KM) mice subcutaneously for 55 generations on Feb. 11, 1985. The transplantability rate in KM, BALB/C and Swiss mice was 100%. The tumor cells of some passages were stored in liquid nitrogen, and their revival was fine. It is the first transplantable pancreas cancer cell line ever established in China. The primary tumor was derived from a spontaneous pancreas cancer of a outbred male KM mouse. It was a poor-differentiated pancreatic acinar cell cancer. The transplanted tumors from all generations were similar to the primary one in both histology and histochemistry. The esterase staining was positive. By electron-microscopy, the zymogen granules were seen in the cytoplasm of its 1st, 25th and 33rd passages. The chromosome numbers in 28th, 32nd and 35th passages were hypertriploid with a modal number of 60 to 69, and some abnormal submetacentric chromosomes could be seen. The mean survival time of the tumor-bearing mice was 22 days. Metastases could be found in the lung (80%), sometimes in pancreas, omentum and other abdominal organs nearby with bloody cancerous ascites (10.5%). The fat necrosis might be noted around the tumor. These phenomena were similar to the clinical characteristics of human pancreas cancer. The preliminary therapeutic test shows that MPC-83 is sensitive to anticancer drugs such as 5-FU, Cyclophosphamide and cis-platin. This modal may be used for study of pancreas cancer, the mechanism of metastasis and antimetastatic agents of tumor, basic research and anticancer drugs.