Effect of enzymatic disaggregation on proliferation of human tumor cells in soft agar

Cell suspensions were prepared by either mechanical or enzymatic disaggregation methods from biopsy specimens from 54 patients with various tumors. The biologic activities of cells derived from the two suspensions were then examined. Biopsy specimens of solid tumors were minced, and one-half of each specimen was further processed by being teased with needles, whereas the other half was exposed to a combination of collagenase, hyaluronidase, and DNase. The enzymatic disaggregation method yielded fewer cells per gram of tissue than the mechanical method. However, the percentage of dye-excluding cells was increased by the enzymatic procedure in 93% of the cases. Cells obtained by enzymatic means also had higher cloning efficiencies than those obtained by mincing. The histologic types of cells present in the initial cell suspensions were the same for cells obtained by the enzymatic or mechanical disaggregation methods. The number of colonies obtained was linearly related to the number of cells plated in both cases. The tritiated thymidine suicide indices (estimates of the percentage of cells in the S-phase of the cell cycle) were the same for the two cell populations obtained by the two methods. The results indicate that cells obtained from solid tumors by enzymatic dissociation methods did not differ significantly from cells obtained by the more conventional mechanical techniques. However, cell viabilities and cloning efficiencies were significantly improved by the enzymatic technique.