title: Improvement of human tumor clonogenic assay using cell culture in soft part sarcoma of the extremity.
abstract: The human tumor clonogenic assay (HTCA = standard HTCA) gives poor results in sarcomas compared to carcinomas. In order to overcome this problem, a cultivated HTCA, using single-cell suspensions obtained from short-term culture, was developed. In forty specimens taken from 32 patients with soft part sarcomas of the extremities, both standard and cultivated HTCA were performed. Colony-forming ability was low in standard HTCA (0.0053 +/- 0.0051%) while it was high in cultivated HTCA (0.0231 +/- 0.0186%). The number of clonogenic assays suitable for sensitivity tests was low (23.7%) in standard HTCA, while the number was much higher (70.0%) in cultivated HTCA. The histological grade of malignancy (low, moderate, high) was correlated with the growth of colonies in both methods of HTCA; cultivated HTCA, versus HTCA, increased the number of colonies produced in the high and moderate groups of malignant sarcomas. The results of the sensitivity of 8 anticancer drugs on sarcomas were almost the same between the two methods. A retrospective study on the results of the cultivated HTCA and clinical chemotherapeutic effectiveness proved a significant overall correlation rate (91.7%, p less than 0.025). It was concluded that in tumors of a low colony-forming ability such as soft part sarcomas, cultivated HTCA can provide a useful chemosensitivity test.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tomita
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shimozaki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
mesh_terms: D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D005121:Extremities; D006801:Humans; D012509:Sarcoma; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms; D014410:Tumor Stem Cell Assay