Tumor inhibition assay in mice bearing HepG2 xenograft.

<p>(A, B): Subcutaneous tumors were established in mice inoculated with HepG2 cells. Animals were given i.p. injection of DOX and MetFab-DOX at the indicated doses every two days for 15 injections, except that the mice treated with 2 mg/kg DOX died after 10th injection. The mice injected with saline were as control, and the MetFab was given at the same antibody concentration as MetFab-DOX. The average tumor volumes (A) and mice body weight (B) were determined from 8 animals per group. (A) There were significant differences in tumor growth among groups (<i>P</i><0.001). The growth of tumors was inhibited by free DOX, MetFab-DOX and MetFab when compared with saline (<i>P</i><0.001). There was no significant difference in tumor volume between the MetFab-DOX and high-dose DOX treatments with equivalent doxorubicin dosage (<i>P</i> = 0.08). (B) There were significant differences in body weight between groups treated with DOX and any other reagents (<i>P</i><0.001). High-dose or low-dose DOX treatment resulted in a significant reduction of body weight compared to MetFab-DOX treatment (<i>P</i><0.001). There was no significant difference in body weight between MetFab and saline treatment. (C)The tissue pathological observation of nude mice bearing HepG2 cells after different treatments. All the tissue sections were prepared by HE staining. There were significant pathological changes in heart, lung and kidney in mice treated with free DOX. And there was inapparent necrosis in tumor tissue of saline group, while profound necrosis and bleeding in tumors of DOX and MetFab-DOX group.