The effect in the KHT sarcoma of CCNU and MISO on cell cycle progression evaluated by flow-cytometry

Previous studies using the KHT sarcoma have shown that misonidazole (MISO) enhances the cytotoxicity of 1-(2-chloroethyl)-3-cyclohexyl-1-nitrosourea (CCNU) by as much as a factor of 2.0. In the present study flow cytometry was used to monitor the changing DNA distributions of cells dissociated from solid tumors at successive times following treatment with CCNU, applied either alone or in combination with 0.5 mg/g MISO. The proportion of cells in late S and the G2M phases of the cell cycle increased gradually after CCNU treatment. MISO did not significantly change this block in cell progression, which persisted for at least 48 hr after treatment in all cases. CCNU shows marked carbamoylating activity, which has been associated with inhibition of RNA processing and with the degree of chemopotentiation achieved with MISO. Consequently, to evaluate whether MISO chemopotentiation was influencing the RNA distributions in tumors, RNA histograms were generated using acridine orange to differentially stain cellular DNA and RNA. By 24 hr after treatment, CCNU clearly altered the distribution of RNA, but no significant differences could be detected between results obtained from drug and drug plus sensitizer treated groups. These studies demonstrate the effect of CCNU on cell cycle progression in vivo. The addition of MISO did not result in further perturbation of the total tumor population, suggesting that cell cycle redistribution does not play a major role in chemopotentiation by MISO.