Preclinical Evaluation of Cetuximab and Benzoporphyrin Derivative-Mediated Intraperitoneal Photodynamic Therapy in a Canine Model.

Peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) can occur as an advanced consequence of multiple primary malignancies. Surgical resection, radiation or systemic interventions alone have proven inadequate for this aggressive cancer presentation, since PC still has a poor survival profile. Photodynamic therapy (PDT), in which photosensitive drugs are exposed to light to generate cytotoxic reactive oxygen species, may be an ideal treatment for PC because of its ability to deliver treatment to a depth appropriate for peritoneal surface tumors.

Mechanisms of blood flow and hypoxia production in rat 9L-epigastric tumors.

Classical descriptions of tumor physiology suggest two origins for tumor hypoxia; steady-state (diffusion-limited) hypoxia and cycling (perfusion-modulated) hypoxia. Both origins, primarily studied and characterized in murine models, predict relatively small, isolated foci or thin shells of hypoxic tissue interspersed with contrasting oxic tissue. These foci or shells would not be expected to scale with overall tumor size since the oxygen diffusion distance (determined by oxygen permeability and tissue oxygen consumption rate) is not known to vary dramatically from tumor to tumor.

Radiosensitization of hypoxic tumor cells by dodecafluoropentane: a gas-phase perfluorochemical emulsion.

One method to make hypoxic, radioresistant cells more radiation sensitive has been to increase the oxygen carrying capacity of normal blood using liquid perfluorochemical emulsions combined with breathing high pO2 gases. We investigated the ability of dodecafluoropentane (DDFP) to sensitize the moderately radiation-resistant Morris 7777 hepatoma based on our previous inability to modify the radiation response of this tumor. DDFP is used in very small quantities compared with perfluorchemicals reported previously.