PURPOSE: To demonstrate the irreversible poisoning action of the acetone cyanohydrin (AC) in malignant cells. METHODS:Thirty male Swiss mice were inoculated with 1x10³ Ehrlich tumor (ET) cells. The mice were divided into three groups (n=10): CG (saline); ACG1 (1.864 mg/Kg of AC) and ACG2 (2.796 mg/Kg of AC), treated every 48 hours from day 3 until day 13. On day 15 the mice were euthanized and the number of viable cells in ascites was determined. In the meantime, ET cells were incubated with AC (0.5, 1.0, 2.0 μg/mL). Cell viability and percentage of growth inhibition (PGI) were checked after one, two, three, four, 18 and 24 hours. RESULTS:There was reduction in volume and number of viable cells in ACG1 and ACG2 compared to CG. In ACG1 one of the animals did not present ascites. In ACG2 two mice did not present ascites and in CG none of the mice present ascites. The action of AC was dose and time dependent and there was no significant difference among the three doses. CONCLUSION:The acetone cyanohydrin promoted reduction of the tumor and also prevented tumor development in 20% of the treated animals.

The hemophagocytic syndrome (HS) is characterized by a clinical picture of fever, hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenopathy and peripheral pancytopenia. The morphologic hallmark of this syndrome is the phagocytosis of hematopoietic elements by morphologically normal macrophages. HS is considered rare and may be a primary disease or associated to viral, infection, neoplasias or autoimmune diseases. Treatment is controversial and its evolution is often fatal. Anatomo-pathological evaluation shows the phenomenon of hemophagocytosis in several organs, especially the hematopoietic tissues. We describe a case of HS, discuss its possible causes, its clinical and pathologic features, its pathophysiology and therapeutic possibilities.

PURPOSE:To determine the percentage of tumoral necrosis and volume after cyanogenic chemotherapy. METHODS:Histopathological findings of 20 Swiss mice inoculated subcutaneously in the left abdominal wall with 0.05 ml of cell suspension containing 2.5 x 10 5 viable cells of the Ehrlich tumor were evaluated. The tumor response to cyanogenic chemotherapy was determined using a system that comprises two inhibition factors of tumor growth by calculating the percentage of necrosis in the tumor tissue and calculation of tumor volume in treated animals relative to that in control animals. The importance of this system has been validated by the correlation between tumor inhibition in the groups treated with the respective percentages of necrosis. RESULTS:While the control group presented an average of 13.48 ± 14.71% necrosis and average tumor volume of 16.18 ± 10.94, the treated group had an average of 42.02 ± 11.58 and 6.8 ± 3.57, respectively. The tumor inhibition was significantly associated with treatment (p=0.0189). The analysis of necrosis percentage showed a significant prognostic importance (p=0.0001). CONCLUSION:It is concluded that the effect of cyanogenic chemotherapy showed strong inhibitory action of tumor growth, as well as an increase in its area of necrosis.