In vitro clonality of carcinomas as a prognostic parameter for the survival time of patients

Clonal growth of tumour cell explants of squamous cell carcinomas of the jaw and face area can be induced in vitro. According to the clonality of tumours, the following 2 patient groups can be clearly distinguished: Patients with carcinomas whose in vitro growth involves a small number of clones (less than 45/1 X 10(5) cells disseminated). Patients with carcinomas whose in vitro growth involves a large number of clones (more than 45/1 X 10(5) cells disseminated). Demonstrating the same prognostic factors, these two patient groups have a significantly different life expectancy (p = 0.0001) 24 months following establishment of the diagnosis and cloning: more than 70% of the patients with low-cloning carcinomas, and less than 30% of the patients with high-cloning carcinomas are still alive. In vitro clonality of tumours is thus a prognostically relevant indicator of the expected survival time of affected patients.