title: Comparison of chemosensitivity tests: clonogenic assay versus MTT assay.
abstract: When the development of chemotherapeutic agents reaches the clinical trial stage, it is necessary to perform drug sensitivity tests quickly in order to select the most promising agents for the treatment of cancer. In order to assess the possibility of using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay as a substitute for the human tumor clonogenic assay (HTCA), we evaluated the correlation between the results obtained by these 2 assays in 5 human lung cancer cell lines. The correlation coefficient between the results of the HTCA and the MTT assay was 0.673, indicating a relatively good correlation. The correlation was most prominent in platinum analogues (r = 0.939) and good in anthracyclines/anthracenedione (r = 0.611). However, no significant correlation was observed in vinca alkaloids, etoposide, irinotecan, SN-38 (an active metabolite of irinotecan), and rhizoxin. The results of the MTT assay showed a high degree of correlation with those of the HTCA in predicting the sensitivity of cancer cell lines to platinum analogues, and anthracyclines/anthracenedione. These results suggest that the MTT assay may be more convenient and quickly performed than the HTCA and can replace HTCA in evaluating the effects of anticancer agents, especially the platinum analogues and anthracyclines/anthracenedione.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine II, Okayama University Medical School, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawada
authors.forename: Toshiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yonei
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ueoka
authors.forename: Katsuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kiura
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tabata
authors.forename: Nagio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takigawa
authors.forename: Mine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.forename: Mitsune
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanimoto
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D004396:Coloring Agents; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D020128:Inhibitory Concentration 50; D008175:Lung Neoplasms; D013778:Tetrazolium Salts; D013844:Thiazoles; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000187:drug effects; D014410:Tumor Stem Cell Assay
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004396:Coloring Agents; D013778:Tetrazolium Salts; D013844:Thiazoles; C022616:thiazolyl blue