Treatment of mice with lung metastasis from a dermally implanted fibrosarcoma: Comparison of intratumoral trehalose-6,6′-dimycolate (cord factor) and surgery

Abstract

Intralesional administration of emulsified trehalose-6,6′-dimycolate was compared to surgery in the treatment of mice with growing intradermal implants of a syngeneic fibrosarcoma. Treatments were given about one month after tumor implantation when a majority of animals so treated had metastatic foci of tumor in the lungs. Mice treated with trehalose-6,6′-dimycolate or by surgery survived significantly longer than untreated mice. Some treated mice were alive and tumor-free six months after tumor inoculation. The differences in cure rates and prolongation of survival between the trehalose-6,6′-dimycolate treated group and the surgically treated group were not statistically significant. Several mice died soon after surgery; no deaths could be attributed to the acute effects of immunotherapy.