Chemosensitivity test is useful in evaluating the appropriate adjuvant cancer chemotherapy for stage III non-scirrhous and scirrhous gastric cancers.
A total of 183 cases with gastric cancer was retrospectively analyzed in terms of their chemosensitivity as determined by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and their survival rates after surgery. After the patients were stratified into scirrhous or non-scirrhous carcinoma groups, they were tested for stage III or IV gastric cancer. In these four cohorts, the patients were categorized into sensitive and insensitive groups determined by the MTT assay. The sensitive group was treated with at least one drug that had been shown to be effective in the MTT assay, and the insensitive group was given a drug that had been shown to be ineffective in the MTT assay. In stage III gastric cancer, the sensitive group showed a favorable survival compared to the insensitive group in scirrhous and non-scirrhous carcinoma, while this difference was diminished in stage IV gastric cancer. There were no survival benefits in the sensitive group in stage III gastric cancer, when they were not treated with adjuvant cancer chemotherapy. These results suggested that MTT assay would be useful in evaluating the appropriate adjuvant cancer chemotherapy for stage III scirrhous and non-scirrhous gastric cancer.
Abe
S
S
Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. abes@med.keio.ac.jp
Kubota
T
T
Matsuzaki
S W
SW
Otani
Y
Y
Watanabe
M
M
Teramoto
T
T
Kumai
K
K
Kitajima
M
M
D002293:Adenocarcinoma, Scirrhous / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D016685:Mitomycin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013778:Tetrazolium Salts; D013844:Thiazoles; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D013778:Tetrazolium Salts; D013844:Thiazoles; D016685:Mitomycin; D004317:Doxorubicin; C022616:thiazolyl blue; D002945:Cisplatin; D005472:Fluorouracil