title: Cooperative evaluation of human tumor chemosensitivity in the soft-agar assay and its clinical correlations.
abstract: In supporting the human-tumor cloning effort of the Southwest Oncology Group, we conducted an independent retrospective study to evaluate the clinical correlations of the soft-agar colony-forming assay developed by Hamburger and Salmon (1977). This study was made with the cooperation of 76 clinicians and 11 hospitals in Greater New Orleans. In a 10-month trial (July 1982 to May 1983), we received 134 human tumors of 26 classifications and achieved 76% success in colony growth from 122 plated samples. Retrospective correlations between the in vitro chemosensitivity of tumor colonies and clinical drug responses were made possible in 31% of the patients. Evaluation of 45 in vitro and in vivo associations indicated a combined sensitivity of 0.65 and a specificity of 0.68 for the assay. Technical refinements and the selectivity of the assay are discussed.
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000187:drug effects; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D004351:Drug Resistance; D006801:Humans; D008722:Methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014410:Tumor Stem Cell Assay
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents