AN EXPERIMENTAL-MODEL FOR PLEURAL CANCER

Pleural cancers are tumours which are frequently refractory to all tre atment. Faithful animal models (experimentally reproducing the human d isease) are necessary to study the natural history of this disease and to test standard or experimental treatments. The athymic bald mouse i s currently used for the construction of experimental models because i t avoids immunological rejection. Initially murine models were constru cted following subcutaneous injection of cloned cells then implantatio n of tumour-fragments. The rumours obtained are not superimposable on the human disease in terms of local, regional or metastatic developmen t and the results from these studies, using such models, are difficult to transpose to humans. It is possible to implant fragments of histol ogically intact human tumour into the pleura of bald mice. This orthop tic (site for site) transplantation enables one to obtain in the mouse a tumour which tends to conserve the biological characteristics of th e original tumour and to develop locally regionally and at distance in a fashion which is similar to the human disease. In spite of the inhe rent limits of immunotolerence of the host and thus difficulties of ex trapolation to man, this revue attempts to point out the place for the se models and for an understanding of the therapy of pleural cancers.