Growth of lung cancer colonies from bronchoscopy washings

Design, synthesis, and evaluation of cyclic C7-bridged monocarbonyl curcumin analogs containing an o-methoxy phenyl group as potential agents against gastric cancer

The structure-activity relationship (SAR) between toxicity and the types of linking ketones of C7 bridged monocarbonyl curcumin analogs (MCAs) was not clear yet. In the pursuit of effective and less cytotoxic chemotherapeutics, we conducted a SAR analysis using various diketene skeletons of C7-bridged MCAs, synthesized cyclic C7-bridged MCAs containing the identified low-toxicity cyclopentanone scaffold and an o-methoxy phenyl group, and assessed their anti-gastric cancer activity and safety profile. Most compounds exhibited potent cytotoxic activities against gastric cancer cells. We developed a quantitative structure-activity relationship model (R2 > 0.82) by random Forest method, providing important information for optimizing structure. An optimized compound 2 exhibited in vitro and in vivo anti-gastric cancer activity partly through inhibiting the AKT and STAT3 pathways, and displayed a favorable in vivo safety profile. In summary, this paper provided a promising class of MCAs and a potential compound for the development of chemotherapeutic drugs.

Preoperative in vitro chemosensitivity test of esophageal cancer with endoscopic specimens

BACKGROUND

From January 1990 to June 1991, the authors tested in vitro chemosensitivity before surgery with endoscopic biopsy specimens from 23 patients with intrathoracic esophageal cancer.

METHODS

The authors tested eight anticancer agents using the dye exclusion method, and all 23 patients received chemotherapy with the most sensitive three drugs according to the results of the chemosensitivity test.

RESULTS

Ten patients (43.5%) had a tumor reduction of more than 50% on radiologic studies, and 4 patients (17.4%) had a good histologic effect.

CONCLUSIONS

The chemosensitivity test is useful in selecting preoperative chemotherapeutic agents for patients with esophageal cancer.

Confluent BALB/c 3T3 cells monolayer provides selective and efficient growth of neoplastic cells

In an attempt to further characterize non-irradiated contact-inhibited confluent monolayer of BALB/c 3T3 cells (= Contact-Sensitive Plates; CSP) as substrata for in vitro drug sensitivity testing, we compared the efficiency of colony formation with panels of cell lines on CSP with that on plastic dishes or in agar. Tumorigenicity in athymic nude mice was also examined. We found that: (1) HeLa cells, 2 esophageal cancer lines, rat 3Y1 fibroblasts transformed by either adenovirus type 12, mouse polyoma virus, Rous avian sarcoma virus, or plasmid DNA carrying v-Ha-ras oncogene all formed colonies on CSP and in agar and at the same time was tumorigenic. The efficiency of colony formation on CSP proved always to be higher than that in agar. (2) None of the 4 "normal" fibroplastic cell lines formed colonies on CSP or in agar and were tumorigenic. (3) Simian virus 40 and adenovirus E1A gene transformed rat 3Y1 fibroblasts formed colonies on CSP but not in agar, and were not tumorigenic. Therefore, CSP was found to provide selective and efficient growth of neoplastic cells when compared to other substrata and is also helpful in detecting incompletely transformed cells.

Relationship between the in vitro colony growth of human tumors and cytologic diagnosis

The cytologic examinations and cloning efficiencies of 47 human tumor specimens (19 ovarian carcinomas, 6 sarcomas, 5 lung carcinomas, and 17 miscellaneous tumors) were compared to evaluate the predictability of clonogenecity by cytologic diagnosis. Cytologic examination preceding clonogenic assay identified the 50% to 60% of all specimens that failed to yield in vitro chemotherapy sensitivity by this assay, with a false-negative rate of 10%. The frequency of cytologically identifiable tumor cells in the plating suspension was independent of the histologic type of tumor (ovarian carcinoma or others) and the nature of the specimen (solid tumor or malignant effusion). Nearly 66% of all specimens were cytologically negative. The in vitro sensitivity can be assessed in approximately 75% of cytologically positive specimens. Cytologic evaluation preceding soft-agar clonogenic assay of human tumors can reduce cost and effort by predicting colony-producing specimens.

Simultaneous soft agar cloning of ascites and solid tumor specimens from patients with ovarian cancer

Concurrent Cloning Efficiencies (CE) of both ascites and solid tumor samples from 36 patients with ovarian carcinoma were studied using the soft agar assay. The CE of both were highly variable (range, 0-1.234% and 0-0.802%, respectively). There was marked intrapatient and interpatient heterogeneity in the CE. Of the 36 tested, comparative CE were evaluable in 29. CE was 0 in both solid tumor and ascites in one patient. CE was 0 in four other ascites samples from four patients. In other 24, the relative CE of solid tumor/ascites from each patient ranged from 0.066 to 435. In the 29 patients with samples of ascites and a solid tumor evaluable for concurrent CE, the median colony counts of solid tumors was more than tenfold higher than ascites. The solid tumors obtained from 31 patients had a significantly higher CE than tumor cells obtained from ascites samples from 32 patients. Solid tumors were significantly better than ascites for in vitro testing based on the data that 75% (27/36) of solid tumors and only 31% (11/36) of ascites formed greater than or equal to 30 colonies. The drug sensitivity profiles of tumor cells from a solid tumor and ascites of the same patient appear similar. Based on these observations, it may be more cost and labor effective to do soft agar in vitro chemotherapy assays using a solid tumor than ascites in ovarian carcinoma.

Studying lung cancer in the laboratory: 1--Development of model systems

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In vitro chemosensitivity of human lung cancer for vindesine

Firstly, the effect of Vindesine was studied on four different human lung carcinoma cell lines (two small cell, one adeno and one squamous cell) with the Fast Green dye exclusion assay (FGA) and the clonogenic assay. Both methods demonstrate a clear dose response relationship and the estimated drug efficacy is similar for both assays. In the cell lines with the longest doubling time a plateau was reached in the FGA, most probably due to the short culture time in this assay. Secondly, the effect of Vindesine on human lung carcinoma specimens (n = 64), mainly bronchoscopy biopsies (n = 48), was evaluated with the FGA. The FGA has merits as predictive test in the clinic in the situation that only a small number of cells can be obtained. In this study, due to the high number of bronchoscopy biopsies only in a minority of cases a conclusion could be obtained (37.5%).

Drug selection for perioperative chemotherapy

A wide variety of tumor types can be successfully grown with the clonogenic assay. However, few tumor types perform adequately for routine drug sensitivity testing, e.g., ovarian carcinoma and malignant melanoma. Because of insufficient in vitro growth, the cloning system cannot help substantially in indicating active substances for epidemiologically frequent tumors that usually have a poor prognosis, such as colorectal cancers and non-small cell lung and breast cancers. The degree of in vitro cell kill that would correspond to complete eradication of micrometastases is unknown. The identification of individual patients sensitive to a given antineoplastic agent becomes more difficult as the tumor becomes more refractory to treatment. At this moment, the clonogenic assay appears most promising for trials dealing with the treatment of ovarian adenocarcinoma.

The human tumor clonogenic assay in the treatment of patients with lung cancer

The human tumor clonogenic assay has allowed the growth of human tumor cells and their testing to chemotherapeutic agents in vitro in a manner much like bacterial antibiotic sensitivities. This report deals with the in vitro test results compared with the in vivo therapeutic sensitivities of human lung cancer. Three hundred twenty-six lung tumor specimens from either primary or metastatic disease were plated using a two-layer technique. Of these, 68% (223) were grown and 41% (133) were applicable to chemosensitivity testing. Only 28 patients were considered for a retrospective analysis of in vitro tumor sensitivity versus in vivo tumor response to chemotherapeutic agents. Among them the percentage of true positives for the assay was 60%, while the percentage of true negatives was 91%. This technique has been encouraging in its initial stages and, with further development, may have an expanding role in the treatment of patients with lung cancer.