[Uptake of bleomycin by human brain tumors].

Bleomycin (BLM), discovered by Umezawa et al. (1966a, b) is a kind of cytostatic antibiotic complex produced by a strain of Streptomyces verticillus, and was found by Ichikawa et al. (1967, 1968) to be highly effective against human squamous cell carcinoma. These authors observed relatively high concentration of BLM in the skin after subcutaneous injection in mice, and suggested that the therapeutic effect on squamous cell carcinoma might be related to the high concentration ofBLM in the skin (Ichikawa et al., 1967; Umezawa et al., 1967, 1968a, b). Recently, Mamo et al. (1973) found that radioactive BLM (57Co-BLM) was superior to technetium-99m (Tc-99m) for the diagnosis of malignant intracranial tumours, and Takeuchi et al. (1969, 1972) reported clinical effects of BLM against brain tumours. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the uptake of BLM by various types of brain tumours and to study the correlation between the distribution of BLM and the type and characteristics of brain tumours.