Prediction of the ability to purge tumor from murine bone marrow using clonogenic assays

The development of potential purging regimens for autologous bone marrow transplantation has been limited by the inability to predict the antitumor activity of these regimens at doses which will allow engraftment. We describe an in vitro model which estimates the in vivo efficacy of potential purging regimens in mice. The log kill of clonogenic L1210 cells after in vitro incubation with graded doses of 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide and vincristine (alone or in combination) was linearly related to the incubation dose of drugs. Clonogenic assays could only directly demonstrate about three logs of cell kill. However, the log linear dose-response allowed the extrapolation of cell kill for doses of drugs whose kill could not be determined directly. The extrapolated cell kill accurately predicted the in vitro activity of the drugs as established by determining the survival of B6D2F1 mice given injections of the drug-treated L1210 cells. Lethally irradiated B6D2F1 mice were given injections of mixtures of syngeneic bone marrow and L1210 cells purged with a combination of 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide and vincristine. Combining the results of in vitro granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming unit and clonogenic L1210 sensitivities to this drug combination predicted the survival of mice and, therefore, the effectiveness of the purging regimen.