An in vitro method for testing the sensitivities to drugs of human osteosarcomas grafted onto nude mice

Abstract

Sensitivities to anticancer drugs were tested with cultured cells from six osteosarcomas transplanted onto nude mice and those of six human osteosarcomas cultured in vitro directly from the original tumor. The suppression by the anticancer drugs of 3H-TdR incorporation into the cultured cells was examined. The cells that had been grafted onto nude mice were highly sensitive to ADM and MMC and less sensitive to BLM and MTX in all of the tumors tested. Similar results were obtained with cells cultured directly in vitro from the original tumor. These results were somewhat comparable with those achieved by measuring cell survival and the success of back transplants onto nude mice after treatment with drugs. If further information on appropriate labeled precursors can be developed, testing the sensitivity of tumors to drugs by measuring the suppression of nucleic acid synthesis should prove useful in clinical applications.