Growth of solid tumor cells in clonogenic assays: a prognostic factor?

Clonogenic assays can be used to study several characteristics of hemopoietic and solid tumor cells. Treatment of ovarian cancer patients, anticancer drug development and studies of tumor cell biology (self-renewal and cytogenetics) seem to be facilitated by these techniques, in spite of their limitations. This paper reviews data showing that good in vitro clonal growth might be a poor prognostic factor. These results are remarkable but only few patients have been studied and detailed analyses looking at other prognostic factors are lacking. However, studies of in vitro growth characteristics of hemopoietic malignancies have shown similar results. Further follow-up should substantiate these initial findings in solid tumors.