A 69-year-old female was treated for hyperthyroidism and hypertension. In August 1984, she suddenly began suffering from polyuria and polydipsia. In October, she exhibited fever, headache, vertigo, and poor appetite, probably due to pituitary apoplexy. Her endocrine function was normal, except for partial diabetes insipidus. A contrast-enhanced CT brain scan revealed a pituitary adenoma with a ring-enhanced outer edge and a central low-density area. The MRI scan also indicated cystic adenoma. A CT scan examination repeated 6 months later showed an empty sella with a markedly decreased pituitary adenoma. This case report demonstrates that some empty sella are the final result of pituitary adenoma bleeding or infarction.

Adenoma↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Advantage of combined treatment of CPT-11 and 5-fluorouracil.

The combined chemotherapy of SN-38, active metabolite of CPT-11, and 5-FU in vitro was examined using human cell lines and primarily cultured cells obtained at surgery. The percent survival of the Suit-2 cell line treated with a single modality of SN-38 at the concentration of 0.95-61 nM was 70% to 86%, while, when treated with SN-38 and 5-FU, the percent survival of these cells decreased at even 1 microM of 5-FU. The enhanced ratios (percent survival at 0 nM SN-38/percent survival at 61 nM SN-38) at 1 microM and 4 microM of 5-FU were 1.56 and 1.33, respectively. The enhanced ratio became lower when the concentration of 5-FU was increased. When topoisomerase I activity in Suit-2 cells incubated with 5-FU was examined, 5-FU at a high dose (> or = 4 microM) in the medium caused a strong inhibition of the relaxation of Suit-2 DNA by topoisomerase I, but 5-FU at low dose (< or = 2 microM) barely inhibited topoisomerase I activity. These results indicated that topoisomerase I synthesis in the Suit-2 cell line might be suppressed by a high dose of 5-FU in the medium but not by a clinically achievable level of 5-FU. The cancer cells obtained from clinical cancer tissues were treated with these drugs at a clinically achievable dose in the medium. Judging from the results of a sensitivity test, in 7 out of 10 cases, the percent survivals under the combined treatment were lower than those estimated under the single modality treatment. Therefore, by the addition of 5-FU, the antitumor effect of CPT-11 would seem to be further enhanced.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Cytotoxicity of CPT-11 and SN-38 for gastrointestinal and recurrent carcinomas cultured on contact-sensitive plates.

CPT-11 is a derivative of camptothecin, a topoisomerase-I inhibitor with marked cytotoxic activity. We examined the cytotoxicity of CPT-11 and its metabolite SN-38 for primary gastrointestinal carcinoma and various recurrent carcinomas which were cultured on contact-sensitive plates (CSPs). The response rate of seven gastrointestinal carcinomas for either CPT-11 or SN-38 was 71% (5/7). The response was higher than those for other anticancer agents, including adriamycin (ADM), cisplatinum (CDDP) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). The mean percent survival of these tumor cells was 69% when incubated with 25 ng/ml of SN-38, which was the lowest survival for all the anticancer drugs tested. IN the case of recurrent carcinomas, the response rate to either CPT-11 or SN-38 was 60% (3/5), and was higher than the rates for MMC, CDDP or 5-FU. The mean percent survival of the recurrent carcinoma cells was 76% in the presence of 25 ng/ml SN-38, and this was once again the lowest survival rate. CPT-11 had a stronger inhibitory effect against one carcinoma than SN-38 when a clinical drug concentration was added to the culture medium, suggesting that CPT-11 itself was cytotoxic. IN addition, one carcinoma with a low response to CDDP also showed no response to CPT-11, but was very occurred because of decreased conversion of CPT-11 to SN-38. Our results suggest that CPT-11 may be a useful agent for the treatment of both primary gastrointestinal cancer and various recurrent carcinomas.

3T3 Cells↗