Roles for in vitro myelotoxicity tests in preclinical drug development and clinical trial planning

Myelosuppression is the dose-limiting side effect for most anti-cancer and many anti-human immunodeficiency virus agents, which can be quantitated with optimized colony-forming assays (granulocyte-macrophage, late erythroid, and megakaryocytic [for murine only] colony-forming units and early erythroid burst-forming units (BFUs)). When applied to new drug development, the assays are used for therapeutic index-based screening (e.g., less myelosuppressive analogues, structure-toxicity studies, new drug leads), interpreting efficacy data from xenotransplant models, and selecting the most accurate animal model for human hematopoietic toxicity. However, other types of assays may be required to identify the mechanism underlying myelosuppression. In clinical trial planning, in vitro colony-forming assays can be used to elucidate schedule dependency of myelotoxicity (which in turn provides clues about mechanism of action), to plan cytokine support, and to estimate dose-escalation effects. The inhibition of colony formation can be measured relative to a compound with known clinical myelotoxicity and schedule dependency to provide some idea of the toxicity expected at particular doses, and the degree of heterogeneity between individuals, during clinical trials. The predictive accuracy of the in vitro data has been proven by validation studies with alkylating agents.