In vitro chemotherapeutic testing of urologic tumors

Testing the chemosensitivity of renal carcinoma in vitro

Tumour cells from 23 renal carcinomas were exposed in vitro to increasing concentrations of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) or one of several cytotoxic agents. Thereafter the uptake of 75Selenomethionine (75SeM) was compared to that of tumour cells not exposed to the drug. Using drug concentrations similar to those seen following in vivo administration in patients, MPA produced greater than or equal to 50% inhibition of 75SeM uptake in 5 of 23 cases. The comparable proportion for doxorubicin was 4 of 5 and for mitozantrone 7 of 12. Methotrexate and Vinblastine were much less effective. In all cases where greater than or equal to 50% inhibition was obtained with doxorubicin and mitozantrone the carcinoma had spread beyond the kidney. Thus drug sensitivity may be associated with a high mitotic rate.

In vitro chemosensitivity testing of renal cell cancer. Short-term culture technique

In an attempt to solve the problem of chemosensitivity testing of renal cell carcinoma in vitro, a modified short-term culture technique was developed. The kinetic study of hypernephroma cells and normal renal cells showed that the uptake of H3-uridine and H3-thymidine is at its maximum after eighty hours. The effect of doxorubicin, cisplatinum, vinblastine, and mitomycin C in different concentrations was tested. Tumors generally showed more resistance than sensitivity. Some tumors showed sensitivity to one or more drugs, but no one drug was persistently effective in all tumors. Our short-term culture technique solved the discrepancy between cell kinetics and test duration found in the Volm test and the problem of nongrowth in the clonogenic assay.

Human bladder tumors in organ culture

We have established a reliable method for culturing transitional cell tumors of the human urinary bladder. Out of seventy-four set up in culture, forty-eight were successfully maintained and their behavior studied using metaphase arrest and 125IUdR uptake.

Growth of urinary transitional cell carcinoma cell lines in agar, agarose and methyl cellulose

Because in vitro cell growth of transitional cell carcinoma explants and cell lines often fail to adequately proliferate in semisolid media, we have examined the effect of agents used to make media semisolid (methyl cellulose, Bacto-agar, Sea Plaque agarose and Sea Prep 15/45 agarose) on the in vitro growth of 11 transitional cell carcinoma cell lines. The growth of human transitional cell carcinoma lines was supported such that agents permissive for growth ranked as follows: Sea Plaque agarose approximately Sea Prep agarose greater than methyl cellulose greater than Bacto-agar. These observations have important implications for the in vitro study of transitional cell carcinoma cell lines and are relevant to the development of improved chemosensitivity determinations for human transitional cell carcinoma.

Choosing the right intravesical chemotherapeutic agent. Results of an in vitro monolayer cell culture assay

The use of a monolayer cell culture technique is described. Twenty-four superficial bladder tumours have been tested against Thiotepa, Adriamycin and Mitomycin C. Cultures were set up in parallel for a clonogenic assay after the method of Salmon. In the monolayer all 24 tumours grew; 21 showed a greater than 50% inhibition to Mitomycin, 13 to Adriamycin and 6 to Thiotepa. In the clonogenic assays, only 12 grew satisfactorily. It is concluded that this monolayer assay gives a reasonable prediction of the sensitivities of the commonly used intravesical agents.

The effect of different agars, agaroses and methyl cellulose on the in vitro proliferation of a human urinary transitional cell carcinoma cell line

The effects of different agars (Bacto-agar and deoxycholate lactose agar), agaroses (LE, ME, Sea Plaque and Sea Prep 15/45) and methyl cellulose on the growth of a human tumor cell line, derived from a transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder, were examined. The overall growth in the presence of agars and agarose was generally less than in liquid medium alone. In contrast, growth in the presence of methyl cellulose was significantly enhanced. Thus, methyl cellulose may be a useful agent for optimizing the proliferation of primary tissue cultures prepared from human transitional cell carcinomas.

In vitro chemosensitivity of human bladder cancer

The chemosensitivity of fresh specimens of human transitional cell carcinoma was tested using a novel dye exclusion assay based upon Fast Green staining, cytocentrifugation, and H & E counterstaining. Assays were successful (three or more drugs tested) in 22/24 specimens obtained by cytoscopy and 2/2 specimens obtained by open biopsy. Three of 17 specimens had more than 70% cell kill after a 1-hour exposure to thiotepa (500 micrograms/ml), compared with 10/18 after exposure to mitomycin C (250 micrograms/ml), and 19/19 after exposure to doxorubicin (100 micrograms/ml). There was a trend for specimens with high histologic grades or low control viabilities in short-term culture to be more sensitive to mitomycin C than specimens with low histologic grades or high control viabilities. Comparison of these data with published clinical data suggests that intrinsic chemosensitivity may be the most important determinate of clinical response to intravesical chemotherapy with thiotepa, while drug penetration to the tumor cells may primarily determine clinical response to intravesical doxorubicin. Thiotepa may be most valuable in treating large lesions which are intrinsically sensitive, while doxorubicin may be valuable in nearly all small lesions. Improved drug distribution to tumor sites could improve intravesical therapy with doxorubicin.