Blood, 1961, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 166-175.
© 1961 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
On the Possibility of Cure of Malignant Lymphoid Tumors.
I. Treatment of Autochthonous Lymphoid Tumors
in C57BL Mice with Massive Doses of
Lymphocytolytic Agents
HENRY S. KAPLAN 1 and
C. SUSAN NAGAREDA 1
1 Department of Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford,
Calif.
Strain C57B1 mice in which thymic lymphosarcomas had been induced with
total-body X-radiation were treated, at various times in the course of tumor
development, with either hydrocortisone or local X-irradiation. Their survival
was compared with that of placebo-treated controls. In other sacrificed control groups, the incidence and extent of lymphoma development at the time
of treatment was established by microscopic examination.
Treatment with single massive doses of hydrocortisone or local thymic
X-irradiation at 50 or 100 days after lymphoma induction resulted in permanent
cure of half or more of the animals. For a given dose, hydrocortisone was
equally effective when given at any time interval up to 100 days after the
start of lymphoma induction. However, the therapeutic efficacy of hydrocortisone was a significant function of hormone dose, over the range 0.3 to
3.0 mg. In addition to the cure of many animals, significant prolongation of
life was noted in animals dying of lymphomas in all of the treated groups.
Submitted on January 3, 1961
Accepted on March 17, 1961
