[The clonogenic capacity of human lung cancer cells]

Comparative studies of clonogenic ability of twenty four lung cancer samples have been performed in semisolid agar in vitro and in diffusion chambers in vivo. It is concluded that plating efficiency of lung cancer cells varies from 0.00002% to 0.03% in vitro assays and from 0.01% to 0.11% in vivo. A small number of colonies (less than 20) in 15 specimens from 16 does not permit using this method for preclinical individual sensitivity test. The cloning of lung cancer in vitro gives the efficiency more than twenty colonies per a dish in 5 cases of 11. There is some evidence that these models can be used for prediction of treatment response of individual tumors to chemotherapy.