title: Lack of association between in vitro clonogenic growth of human cervical carcinoma and tumour stage, differentiation, patient age, host cell infiltration or patient survival.
abstract: Biopsies from 117 patients with cervical carcinoma were studied using a clonogenic assay to assess in vitro growth. Successful colony growth was achieved in 84 tumours (72%) with a mean colony-forming efficiency (CFE), based on total viable nucleated cell counts, of 0.18 +/- 0.49% (+/- 1 standard deviation). There was a wide range of values, from 0.003-4.28%, with a coefficient of variation of 272%. The relationship between clinical features of cervical carcinoma and in vitro colony formation was investigated. No significant association was demonstrated between in vitro growth and either clinical stage (r = 0.02), tumour differentiation (r = -0.08) or patient age (r = -0.12). There was no significant difference in tumour grade between the group of tumours which failed to grow in culture and those which grew well (p = 0.70). In addition, there was no correlation between CFE and the degree of macrophage (r = 0.001), lymphocyte (r = 0.12), or granulocyte (r = 0.08) infiltration. There was no significant difference between CFEs of tumours from patients who had died and from those who were alive and well after a minimum of 2 years' follow-up after radiotherapy (p = 0.51). Ability to form colonies in agar was not associated with a worse prognosis (p = 0.49). Although CFE is an independent biological parameter, our results suggest that, for cervical carcinoma, it is not useful as a univariate prognostic factor.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research Campaign Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology, Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: West
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Hunter
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology*; D000367:Age Factors; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002999:Clone Cells; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D016019:Survival Analysis; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*