Clinical testing of the radiosensitizer Ro 07-0582: experience with multiple doses.

The hypoxic cell radiosensitizer, Ro 07-0582, has now been given in multiple doses to 16 patients. They have received a total of 15-51 g in 3-20 doses. Immediate tolerance was good, and satisfactory plasma levels of the drug were consistently obtained. Neurotoxicity was, however, troublesome: convulsions occurred in the patient given the highest dose, and there was peripheral neuropathy in 11 cases. Tumour concentrations similar to those in plasma were obtained in human tumours, in contrast to the findings in mouse tumours where concentrations are usually below 40% of plasma levels. In the treatment of human tumours, a lower dose of Ro 07-0582 should give useful hypoxic cell sensitization. Although the total dose of Ro 07-0582 must be limited, there is a real prospect that it will give benefit in clinical radiotherapy

Blood vessel density correlates with the effects of targeted intra-arterial carboplatin infusion with concurrent radiotherapy for squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity and oropharynx

Our aim was first to evaluate the association between blood vessel density (BVD) and free platinum concentration in experimentally induced tumours in rabbits. We also investigated the association between tumour BVD and the clinical response of patients who had undergone targeted carboplatin intra-arterial (i.a.) chemoradiotherapy. VX2 carcinoma cells were transplanted into 46 inbred female Japanese white rabbits. In the i.a. group, carboplatin was infused into the lingual artery, and in the intravenous (i.v.) group, carboplatin was infused through the auricular vein. In the clinical study, we evaluated 19 patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity and oropharynx, who had undergone targeted carboplatin i.a. chemoradiotherapy and had been administered i.a. tegafur/uracil chemotherapy before surgery. We quantified angiogenesis in both studies. Increased BVD was associated with a higher free platinum concentration in the tumour region in the i.a. group of rabbits. In the clinical study, using multivariate logistic regression analysis, only the BVD was related independently to the treatment effect. Therefore, BVD is a valid predictor of the effects of i.a. targeted carboplatin chemotherapy and concurrent radiotherapy for treating human oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas