Carcinogenesis Advance Access originally published online on June 17, 2004
Carcinogenesis 2004 25(11):2101-2105; doi:10.1093/carcin/bgh218
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Carcinogenesis vol.25 no.11 © Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved.
ARTICLE |
Inducible NO synthase inhibits the growth of free tumor cells, but enhances the growth of solid tumors
Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Pathology, Osaka City University Medical School, 1-4-3 Asahimachi, Abeno-ku, Osaka 545-8585, Japan
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed Email: nishikawa{at}med.osaka-cu.ac.jp
To elucidate the role of nitric oxide (NO) in tumor cell growth in vivo, dynamic aspects of the growth of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells (EATCs) were studied in wild-type (WT) mice and in an inducible strain of NO synthase (iNOS)-deficient (iNOS/) mice. Kinetic analysis showed that the rate of free tumor cell growth in the peritoneal cavity was significantly higher in the iNOS/ mice than in the WT mice. In contrast, EATCs inoculated subcutaneously rapidly grew and formed a solid tumor in WT mice, but failed to grow in iNOS/ mice. These results clearly indicate that NO generated by iNOS predominantly inhibits the growth of tumor cells in their free form, but enhances the growth of solid tumors.