Corynebacterium granulosum -Induced Prophylaxis and Therapy of Artificial Pulmonary Metastases of Syngenic Murine Tumors

There has recently been significant interest in the antitumor activity of anaerobic corynebacteria, potent nonspecific stimulators of the reticuloendothelial system (RES). Corynebacterium parvum was found to be effective against many syngenic and allogenic tumors of experimental animals (for more details, see Milas, 1974). Fewer tumor takes, delay of tumor appearance, and retarded growth were common observations following transplantation of tumor cells in mice treated with this bacterium. Another strain of anaerobic corynebacteria, Corynebacterium granulosum, also proved capable of exerting a strong antitumor adjuvant activity (Milas et al., 1974f; Milas et al., 1974c; Paslin et al., 1974). C. parvum and C. granulosum were found to be potent adjuncts to chemotherapy (Currie and Bagshawe, 1970) and to radiotherapy (to be published) of murine fibrosarcomas. It has recently been observed that complete and lasting regressions of established tumors can be achieved with the intratumor injection of C. parvum (Likhite and Halpern, 1974) or with systemic application of C. parvum or C. granulosum (Milas et al., 1974b; Milas et al., 1974d; Milas et al., 1974a,f).