Preclinical evaluation of azathioprine plus buthionine sulfoximine in the treatment of human hepatocarcinoma and colon carcinoma

Figure 7 Effect of azathioprine plus buthionine sulfoximine treatment on tumor volume of nude mice. A: Inhibition of tumor growth by buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) (90 mg/kg per day) plus azathioprine (AZA) (6 mg/kg per day), AZA (6 mg/kg per day) or BSO (90 mg/kg per day). HepG2 cells (107) were implanted subcutaneously into nude mice as described in Materials and Methods; B: Representative animals of the groups treated with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or BSO plus AZA after 12 d of treatment. Levels of glutathione (GSH) (C) and of procaspase-3 (D) in the tumors of nude mice after 12 d of treatment with the corresponding drugs. There were eight mice in each group. Data points represent the means ± SE. ^aP < 0.05; ^bP < 0.01.