Flow cytometric applications to tumour biology: prospects and pitfalls

A brief review of cytometry instrumentation and its potential applications in tumour biology is presented using our recent data. DNA distribution measurements of cells from spontaneous dog tumours and cultured cells after exposure to X-rays, alpha particles or adriamycin are shown. The data show that DNA fluorescence measurments have application in the study of cell kinetics after either radiation or drug treatment. Extensive and careful experimentation is needed, however, to utilize the sophisticated developments in flow cytometry instrumentation.