From bis-intercalators to cell biology

The initial stages of cancer (and those of the cancer metastasis) can be distinguished from the later stages, when a mass of cancer cells has formed. In the former stages, most of the cancer cells are in contact with the host cells rather than with each other. The ratio: (formula; see text) is maximal at this time and decreases progressively as cancer cells divide. This decrease in C(sv) will accentuate the changing metabolic relationships between the dividing cancer cells and the surrounding host cells. The authors have been studying the interaction between individual cancer cells and normal cells. When cancer cells that exhibit intercellular communication, i.e., participate in metabolic cooperation with normal cells, are seeded in intimate contact with normal cells, they respond differently to drugs and other effectors from similarly placed communication incompetent cancer cells and differently from cancer cells growing alone. The thesis is developed that it is necessary to test anticancer compounds upon small numbers of cancer cells in close contact with normal cells. The purpose of such an assay would be to find less toxic compounds that prevent the outgrowth of these cancer cells, preferably by promoting normal cellular interactions between the cancer cells and the surrounding normal host cells, rather than seek toxic compounds that are tailored to kill cells.