Chemosensitivity testing of small cell lung cancer using the MTT assay

Abstract

Summary A simple colorimetric test, the MTT assay, has been adapted for chemosensitivity testing of human small cell lung cancer cell lines, and fresh tumour samples. Optimal conditions for clinical chemosensitivity testing were determined using established SCLC lines. Nineteen different chemotherapeutic agents were tested, and sixteen of them were found to be cytotoxic in this assay system. The drug sensitivity of a panel of 16 SCLC cell lines was measured and compared. There was very little intraexperiment variation, but the interexperiment variation was significant. Cell lines which were derived from patients who had not received chemotherapy at the time the cell line was established were more sensitive (to all but one of the drugs) than lines derived from treated patients, and the differences were statistically significant for two of the drugs. One cell line, NCI-H209, which was derived from an untreated patient, stood out as being the most sensitive or among the most sensitive to all of the drugs tested. Another cell line, H69AR, which is a multidrug resistant subline of the cell line NCI-H69, was the most resistant to many of the natural product drugs tested. Multiple drug chemosensitivity testing was performed on eight fresh tumour samples from SCLC patients (five pleural effusions, one lymph node, and two primary tumours). It was possible to perform chemosensitivity testing on all of the clinical samples in which sufficient tumour cells were available. The drug sensitivity of the clinical samples was, in most cases, within the same range as for the cell lines. Since this assay is very rapid and simple to perform, it may have practical applications in clinical drug sensitivity testing of human tumours.

Chemosensitivity testing of fresh human gastric cancer with highly purified tumour cells using the MTT assay

“…To use this assay for leukaemic cells in peripheral blood or bone marrow, the cells must be enriched to more than 90% by centrifugation with 100% Ficoll-Hypaque alone (Sargent & Taylor, 1989). The MTT assay has been performed using malignant cells from solid tumour samples, including lung cancer (Campling et al, 1991) and ovarian cancer (Wilson et al, 1990) prepared with 100% Ficoll-Hypaque alone, or using malignant cells from gastrointestinal cancer tissues prepared by enzymatic digestion alone (Yamauchi et al, 1991). The purity of malignant cells from ovarian cancer has been reported to be relatively high; i.e.…”

“…The MTT assay is a rapid and quantitative colorimetric system for the determination of the chemosensitivity of tumour cell lines (Carmichael et al, 1987;Park et al, 1987;Schroyens et al, 1990), and also in fresh leukaemia cells (Twentyman et al, 1989;Pieters et al, 1989;Hanson et al, 1991). However, the use of this assay for solid tumour tissues has been limited because of contamination by nonmalignant cells in tumour specimens (Kaspers et al, 1991;Campling et al, 1991;Suto, 1991). Thus, when the MTT assay is employed for chemosensitivity testing of tumour samples, highly purified fresh tumour cells should be used, because contamination by nonmalignant cells affects the results of this assay (Yamaue et al, 1991;Campling et al, 1991;Suto, 1991).…”

“…However, the use of this assay for solid tumour tissues has been limited because of contamination by nonmalignant cells in tumour specimens (Kaspers et al, 1991;Campling et al, 1991;Suto, 1991). Thus, when the MTT assay is employed for chemosensitivity testing of tumour samples, highly purified fresh tumour cells should be used, because contamination by nonmalignant cells affects the results of this assay (Yamaue et al, 1991;Campling et al, 1991;Suto, 1991).…”

Potential Anti-Tumor and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Six Mistletoe Plants in the Family Viscaceae Present in Western Ghats, India

“…The effect of the aqueous extracts on the viability of different transformed cells was determined using MTT assay [26][27]. Tumor cell lines L929, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 (5×10 3 cells/well) were seeded in 96 well flat bottom plates and incubated for 24 h at 37 °C under 5% CO2…”

Comparative In Vitro Sensitivities of Human Immune Cell Lines, Vaginal and Cervical Epithelial Cell Lines, and Primary Cells to Candidate Microbicides Nonoxynol 9, C31G, and Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate

“…Similar concerns have been raised in investigations of alternative methods to evaluate anticancer drugs. In experiments that explored the use of the MTT assay to evaluate the sensitivity of lung tumors to chemotherapeutic treatment, no differences in chemosensitivity between cancer cell lines and primary cell populations prepared from clinical lung tumor samples were observed (7).…”