title: Culture of human head and neck cancer stem cells using soft agar.
abstract: The soft-agar stem-cell assay was applied to head and neck cancer. We have successfully grown 23 (64%) of 36 head and neck tumors from both primary lesions and metastases. More poorly differentiated tumors had positive cultures more frequently than well-differentiated tumors. The plating efficiency (colonies per cells in the inoculum) averaged 0.006% (range, 0.001% to 0.08%). The system allows testing and sensitivity of individual tumors to cancericidal drugs, and our initial trials using methotrexate, bleomycin sulfate, and cisplatin (cisplatinum) show a high degree of variability between individual tumors.
mesh_terms: D000362:Agar; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D004351:Drug Resistance; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D000362:Agar