Figure 2.

Improved tumor growth delay with combined Z-DEVD/RAD001 and radiotherapy at well-tolerated doses in H460 xenograft model. H460 lung cancer cells were implanted subcutaneously in athymic mice. After 6–8 days, mice were treated daily for 7 days, with vehicle control, Z-DEVD (2 mg/kg, i.p), RAD001 (2.5 mg/kg, p.o.), and/or combined Z-DEVD and RAD001, and then were treated 1 hr after drug treatment with 2 Gy of radiation, daily over 5 consecutive days. Tumors were excised when they reached approximately 2.5–3.0 cm³, and tumor growth delay was defined by the number of days required to reach a tumor volume of 2 cm³ was measured. (A) Tumors were measured regularly and growth delay was calculated for treatment groups relative to control tumors. The combined tri-modality therapy (*) induced a marked tumor growth delay when compared with radiation alone (32 vs. 23 days, p = 0.002, Student’s t-test). Points, mean value of tumor volumes in 5 mice; bars, S.D. (B) Body weights were measured every 5 days and body weight ratio was calculated relative to baseline measurement.