International Journal of Cell Cloning, Vol 4, 16-26, Copyright © 1986 by AlphaMed Press
Selection of chemotherapy for patient treatment utilizing a radiometric versus a cloning system
DD Von Hoff, BJ Forseth, JN Turner, GM Clark and LE Warfel
From the 1950s to the 1970s, a number of in vitro systems that measured
inhibition of glucose metabolism were used to predict the responsiveness of
patients' tumors to chemotherapy. In vitro-in vivo correlations were
excellent, with true positive predictions ranging from 68% to 96% and true
negative predictions of 95% to 100%. The radiometric system is a new in
vitro technique that measures the conversion of 14C-glucose to 14CO2. The
system already has been utilized to screen prospective new antineoplastic
agents for cytotoxicity. The present study was undertaken to determine if
the radiometric system might be used to predict correctly the
responsiveness of an individual patient's tumor to single-agent or
combination-agent chemotherapy. Fifty-six tumor specimens were divided and
tested for drug sensitivity in the radiometric system and a conventional
human tumor clonning system. Overall, there was a significant correlation
between in vitro and in vivo results for the conventional cloning system (P
= 0.03). However, there was no significant relationship between in vitro
and in vivo results for the radiometric system. The radiometric system
consistently failed to predict the tumor's clinical sensitivity to single
agents. A radiometric system is not useful in predicting the responsiveness
of a patient's tumor to single agent chemotherapy and is not a replacement
for the more biologically attractive human tumor cloning system.
