Comparative study on various combination chemotherapies against human gastric cancer xenograft lines of well- and poorly-differentiated adenocarcinomas transplanted in nude mice.

Two human gastric cancer xenograft lines (GC-YN and GC-SF) transplanted in nude mice were employed to evaluate and compare the anticancer effect of seven single anticancer agents and their various combinations. Mitomycin C, cisplatin (Briplatin) (CDDP) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) were screened out to be effective against GC-YN and only epirubicin (Farmorubicin) (EPIR) was effective against GC-SF. Combinations of two of these 'effective' agents revealed that FP (5-FU + CDDP) is the most effective two-agent combination regimen against both lines, and some of those 'ineffective' single agents showed synergistic effects against both lines when combined with 5-FU. Moreover, three-agent combinations composed of FP and one of the other five agents were also evaluated to select out the most effective regimen. All the combinations showed higher inhibition on the tumor growth of GC-YN than FP regimen, and FP + adriamycin (Adriacin) (ADR) and FP + EPIR were more effective against GC-SF than FP. However, taking toxic effects into consideration, the results suggest that CDDP + 5-FU + EPIR (FPEPIR) may be the regimen most worthy of clinical trial in the chemotherapy against human gastric cancer.