Targeted vinblastine chemotherapy with two preparations of lipiodol contrast medium

Abstract

Background: Long-term survival and cure can not be achieved in patients with unresectable metastatic liver cancer. In this study, to improve the antitumor activity of oily anticancer agents, which enable targeted cancer chemotherapy, various concentrations of vinblastine dissolved in Lipiodol ultrafluid (vinblastine/Lipiodol U) or Lipiodol F, which has three times the viscosity of Lipiodol ultrafluid, were used.

Materials and methods: Rabbits bearing VX2 tumors measuring 1 to 2 cm in diameter in the liver received arterial injections of 0.2 ml of these drugs, and antitumor activity were examined.

Results: Complete necrosis of the tumor was observed in three of nine rabbits received vinblastine/Lipiodol U at 2.5 mg/ml. Complete necrosis of the tumor was observed in all eleven rabbits which received vinblastine/Lipiodol U at 5 mg/ml. At concentrations of 7.5 and 10 mg/ml, the necrotic area spread from the tumor to the liver parenchyma surrounding the tumor. The antitumor activity of vinblastine dissolved in Lipiodol F was increased compared with that of vinblastine dissolved in Lipiodol ultrafluid.

Conclusions: The antitumor activity of a kind of the oily anticancer agents, vinblastine/Lipiodol increased with increasing amounts of vinblastine dissolved in Lipiodol ultrafluid and with the increasing viscosity of the carrier, Lipiodol.