In vitro assays for new drug screening: comparison of a thymidine incorporation assay with the human tumor colony-forming assay.
Because of technical limitations with the human tumor colony-forming assay (HTCFA), we determined the feasibility of using a thymidine incorporation assay (TIA) for new drug screening. Concordance between the TIA and the HTCFA was obtained (r = 0.840) with twenty coded compounds. Toxic agents without proven clinical efficacy were active in both assays, while non-toxic substances were inactive. Growth rates were higher with the TIA (75%) than with the HTCFA (45%), and the TIA could be completed in 6 days compared to 14-21 days with the HTCFA. We concluded that the TIA is a useful adjunct to in vivo tumor models for screening new anticancer agents.
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000187:drug effects*; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D006801:Humans; D013936:Thymidine / Q000378:metabolism; D014410:Tumor Stem Cell Assay
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D013936:Thymidine