[An in vitro chemosensitivity study using human tumor clonogenic assay in urologic malignancies]

A soft agar colony formation assay, so called human tumor clonogenic assay (HTC assay) similar to that originally described by Salmon and colleagues, was utilized to measure the sensitivity of a total of 85 urologic malignancies including 36 urothelial cell carcinomas, 41 renal cell carcinomas, 5 testicular tumors, and 3 Wilms' tumors to anticancer drugs. In addition, the results obtained were compared with those of a novel dye exclusion method (NDE assay) described by Weisenthal and colleagues. The NDE assay was utilized to measure the sensitivity of a total of 63 urologic malignancies including 28 urothelial cell carcinomas, 25 renal cell carcinomas, 6 testicular tumors, and 4 Wilms' tumors to anticancer agents. In both assay series, the concentration of anticancer drugs tested was approximately one tenth of the maximum serum level achievable after single bolus injection. The colony forming rate inhibition of 70% or more in the HTC assay and the cell survival rate of 30% or less in the NDE assay were defined as "sensitive." Sixteen of the 36 urothelial cell carcinomas, 11 of the 41 renal cell carcinomas, and 1 of the 5 testicular tumors had both more than 30 colonies grown in control plates and enough cells in the specimens to provide at least one drug sensitivity testing. In urothelial cell carcinomas, 3 out of 13 tumors were "sensitive" to adriamycin, 3 out of 16 to cis-platinum, and 4 out of 15 to carboquone. In renal cell carcinomas, 2 out of 9 tumors were "sensitive" to adriamycin, 4 out of 11 to vinblastine, and none of 4 to Interferon alpha.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)