ABSTRACT
The role of cytokines in the therapy and the biology of cancer is a subject of increasing interest. Several factors have contributed to this interest, particularly the availability of recombinant cytokines such as the colony stimulating factors, tumor necrosis factor, the interferons and interleukins for clinical trials, and detailed laboratory studies. This chapter discusses cytokine effects in the nude mouse-human tumor model, like other experimental tumor models. When studying cytokine actions in nude mouse xenograft models, it is important to appreciate the limitations and interpretability of the results obtained, which can be complicated by the pleiotropic actions of cytokines and their species specificity. Successful tumor transplantation in nude mice may be under the influence of cytokines produced by the host. For example, pretreatment of mice with anti-interferon (IFN) antibodies was shown to enhance the tumor take rate of human prostate cancer.
