Antiproliferative effect of hyperthermia and ACNU on cultured human malignant melanoma cells.

Human malignant melanoma cultured cells were treated either with ACNU (1-(4-amino-2-methyl-5-pyrimidinyl)methyl-3-(2-chlorethyl)-3-nitro sourea hydrochloride), hyperthermia, or the combination of ACNU and hyperthermia. The combination treatment inhibited the cell growth to a slightly synergistic degree compared to the respective single treatments. The present in vitro experimental results support in part the finding of our previous report that the combination treatment with ACNU and hyperthermia have a significantly synergistic antitumor effect to human melanoma transplanted to nude mice. However, the synergistic effect was much less intense in the present in vitro experiment. The difference may have resulted from the environmental differences between in vitro and in vivo experimental systems.