title: A rapid anticancer drug screening assay by [14C] thymidine uptake in cultured human cancer cells.
abstract: A rapid screening test by suppression of DNA synthesis in cancer cells was developed with [methyl-14C]-thymidine (14C-TdR), a microculture filtration plate and a radiochromatoscanner. Mitomycin, tamoxifen and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) were tested against four human gastric cancer cell lines and HeLa cells. The tetrazolium-based colorimetric (MTT) assay underestimated cell inactivation by mitomycin in three cell lines compared with the cell count and the 14C-TdR assays. Inactivation by 5-FU in one cell line by 14C-TdR uptake was considerably lower than that by other methods. Thus neither the radio-labelled DNA precursor uptake nor the MTT assay is suitable for every anticancer drug but they are complementary.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohkura
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kajimura
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Okazaki
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes / Q000378:metabolism*; D004247:DNA / Q000096:biosynthesis; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor / Q000379:methods*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D013936:Thymidine / Q000378:metabolism*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D004247:DNA; D013936:Thymidine