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British Journal of Cancer logoLink to British Journal of Cancer
. 1981 Jun;43(6):864–870. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1981.126

Radiosensitivity of microscopic tumours of a transplantable mammary adenocarcinoma in mice.

J Haveman, W Jansen, E van der Schueren, K Breur
PMCID: PMC2010718  PMID: 7248162

Abstract

Evidence is presented that microscopic tumours (of a transplantable murine mammary carcinoma, M8013X) grow faster than larger, palpable, tumours. Microscopic tumours are also more radiosensitive than larger tumours. The decrease in radiosensitivity in larger tumours is prevented to a large extent by misonidazole, which has no significant effect on the radiosensitivity of microscopic tumours. The retardation in growth rate which occurs after the fast microscopic growth is probably related to the appearance of hypoxic cells. Both the decrease in growth rate and the progressive development of hypoxia may be caused by the relatively poorer blood flow in larger tumours. Part of the radioresistance in "large" tumours ( approximately 250 mm3) seems to be due to factors other than hypoxia; maybe cell-kinetic factors also play a role. The intrinsic radiosensitivity of tumour cells in microscopic tumours was assessed by means of a modified latency test: the Dq and Do were 2.2 and 2.5 Gy respectively. A number of factors which may influence the reliability of these estimates are discussed.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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