In vitro sensitivity testing of human renal cell carcinoma with cytostatic agents and interferon alpha-2a

Real-time cell-impedance sensing assay as an alternative to clonogenic assay in evaluating cancer radiotherapy

Intrinsic radiosensitivity of normal and tumour tissues has been shown to be an independent prognostic factor for patients' response to radiotherapy. This study compares the real-time cell-impedance sensing (RT-CES) assay with the conventional clonogenic assay in terms of in-vitro radiosensitivity. One objective in this study was to predict in-vivo response to gold nanoparticle (GNP) treatment on the basis of in-vitro RT-CES testing results. Four adenocarcinoma cancer cell lines were tested using both the RT-CES and the clonogenic assays. Cell-survival curves were plotted, and the mean SF2 values obtained by these two different assay methods were compared using ANOVA. Radiation sensitivities obtained in-vitro were then compared with the in-vivo results. On the basis of the measurement of cell colonies, the RT-CES assay has similar radiosensitivity to the clonogenic assay, but significantly shortens the testing time from 14-21 days to only 72 h. Intrinsic GNP enhanced radiation sensitivity using tumour volume (mm(3)) in vivo is comparable with that using RT-CES cell survival assay in vitro. Furthermore, the RT-CES system provides real-time information regarding the state of cell radiosensitivity that may give useful information towards personalizing radiotherapy. The RT-CES assay enables more reliable and time-efficient results in the evaluation of radiosensitivity.

Determination of in vitro drug sensitivity to a panel of cystostatic drugs and interferon alpha-2b in patients with renal cell carcinoma

Fresh operative cells from 27 renal cell carcinomas (RCC) were cultured in vitro for the determination of in vitro drug sensitivity. Two samples were not culturable. Incubation was carried out in triplicate in the presence and absence of various concentrations of chemotherapeutic agents. Sensitivity of the tumour cells to interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha), cisplatin (CDDP), mitomycin C (MMC), vinblastine (VBL), doxorubicin (DOX), etoposide (ETOP), bleomycin (BLM), vincristine (VCR) were tested by a colorimetric assay using MTT. A preexposure viability over 75% was essential for in vitro drug sensitivity assay (IVDSA). Sensitivity was determined by a more than 50 +/- 2 SD% reduction from the control absorbance. All eight drugs in their low concentrations exhibited cell proliferation inhibition in 0-12% of RCCs. On the other hand, IFN-alpha in its higher concentration (60 IU/ml) was effective in 88% of RCCs. After IFN, CDDP was found to be the second most effective drug in its higher concentration (36% efficacy). The results indicate that IFN appears to be the most effective in vitro agent in our 25 RCCs and the clinical trials either as a monotherapy or multiple combinations of various agents should include IFNs for the treatment of RCC.

Effects of cytokines on growth in vitro of primary human renal cell carcinoma

In clinical trials different haematopoietic active cytokines such as granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) have been proven to alleviate myelosuppressive side effects of intensive chemotherapy in different non-urological malignancies. On the other hand, these cytokines can directly stimulate the proliferation of cells originating from some non-urological tumours. To clarify the impact of these cytokines on the proliferative behaviour of human renal cell carcinoma (RCC), 29 previously untreated RCC tumours were prepared for culturing in vitro using the cell cluster technique. The success rate for growth in vitro was 82.8% (24/29). The malignant renal cells were treated with different cytokines (GM-CSF, G-CSF and interleukin-3) in different dosages. Cell number and proliferation rates detected by immunostaining were used for treatment evaluation. A dosage-dependent stimulation of cell growth could not be observed compared to untreated cells. From the data presented in this study, proliferative stimulation of RCC by administering colony-stimulating factors in clinical trials cannot be assumed.