THE ENHANCED ANTITUMOR-ACTIVITY OF DNA TOPOISOMERASE II-TRAPPING DRUGS BY NATURAL HUMAN TUMOR-NECROSIS-FACTOR AGAINST HUMAN GLIOMA CELL-LINES IN-VITRO

We investigated the antitumor activity of human natural tumor necrosis factor (n-TNF) either alone or in combination with chemotherapeutic d rugs on human glioma cell lines in vitro. Although the cytotoxic effec t of n-TNF alone did not exceed 30%, n-TNF, in combination with topois omerase II-trapping drugs, such as actinomycin D (ACD) and daunomycin (DAM), demonstrated a striking synergistic enhancement of the cytotoxi city, and reached a level of more than 80%, against all the tested cel l lines. Thus this new combination therapy is considered to be a promi sing candidate in developing a new treatment approach to glioma patien ts.