ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the radiation biology of human tumor xenografts and discusses the clinical relevance and potential usefulness of data obtained from heterotransplants. Transplantable murine and rat tumors grown in syngeneic hosts have been used frequently as models for studies aimed at improving the radiotherapy of human cancer. Duchesne et al. studied the radiation biology in vitro and in vivo of human lung cancer xenografts of different histology using the Courtenay assay. Local tumor control is used as an endpoint to measure the radiocurability of experimental rodent tumors. Significant differences in radiation sensitivity among the various histologies were found; the largecell phenotype exhibited radioresistance, whereas the smallcell carcinomas and the adenocarcinomas were radiosensitive. Growth delay studies of human tumor xenografts following single-dose irradiation have been carried out at several institutes and include different histological types of tumors.
