POSSIBLE CYTOSTATIC ACTION OF TETRACYCLINES IN THE TREATMENT OF TUMORS OF THE NASOPHARYNX AND LARYNX

218 patients with a tumor of the larynx or nasopharynx, who had been treated with various forms of combination therapy, and who had died in the period 1964-1976, were studied retrospectively to see if addition of tetracyclines to the treatment had influenced survival time. The patients who received tetracycline appeared to have lived longer. Further, from analysis of all patients from 1-10 years after treatment, it appeared that addition of methotrexate to conventional therapy (surgery, radiation) had worsened the prognosis, in contrast to tetracycline. Tetracycline alone gave slightly better results than in the control group. It had also considerably improved survival in patients who had also received methotrexate. Inhibition of mitochondrial protein synthesis by the tetracyclines is proposed as possible mechanism of the effect. It is suggested that tetracyclines may also be valuable in the treatment of other types of cancer, especially because they appear to be nontoxic as far as bone-marrow function is concerned. © 1979 Springer-Verlag.