Assessment of Antitumor Activity for Tumor Xenograft Studies Using Exponential Growth Models

Abstract

In preclinical tumor xenograft experiments, the antitumor activity of the tested agents is often assessed by endpoints such as tumor doubling time, tumor growth delay (TGD), and log10 cell kill (LCK). In tumor xenograft literature, the values of these endpoints are presented without any statistical inference, which ignores the noise in the experimental data. However, using exponential growth models, these endpoints can be quantified by their growth curve parameters, thus allowing parametric inference, such as an interval estimate, to be used to assess the antitumor activity of the treatment.

Key Words:

• Exponential growth curve
• log₁₀ cell kill
• Tumor doubling time
• Tumor growth delay
• Xenografts

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author gratefully acknowledge two anonymous reviewers and an associate editor for their valuable comments and suggestions that improved the earlier version of this paper. The work was supported in part by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) grants CA21765 and N01-CM-42216 and the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC).

Notes

^a Where delta (×), inverse (×), or Fieller (×) means the delta, inverse, or Fieller interval given by equation number of (×) in the paper.