Summary
Because low plating efficiencies of most human cancers severely limit the number of successful chemosensitivity tests that can be performed, we studied the growth-enhancing effects of hormonal growth factors on a variety of solid tumors. Dose-response studies with progesterone and estradiol indicated no benefit from adding these substances to the culture medium. This was true whether progesterone or estradiol was used alone or in the presence of other hormones. By contrast, epidermal growth factor (EGF) at concentrations from 10 to 100 ng/ml increased colony numbers up to 10-fold. Although insulin, hydrocortisone, and EGF used alone could either stimulate or inhibit the growth of specific tumors, the combination of all three (hormone mixture or HM) was always at least as good and usually better than any individual component in increasing cloning efficiency. HM-supplemented medium gave significantly increased colony counts in 41/46 tumors. Sensitivity to anticancer drugs was not changed in 63 paired drug tests.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Shoemaker, R. H.; Wolpert-deFillipes, M. K.; Kern, D. H., et al. Application of a human tumor colony forming assay to new drug screening. Cancer Res. 45:2145–2153; 1985.
Von Hoff, D. D. Send this patient's tumor for culture and sensitivity. N. Engl. J. Med. 308:154–155; 1983.
Kern, D. H.; Campbell, M. A.; Cochran, A. J., et al. Cloning of human solid tumors in soft agar. Int. J. Cancer 30:725–729; 1982.
Kern, D. H.; Chien, F. W. P.; Morton, D. L. Selective effects of insulin and hydrocortisone on colony formation and drug sensitivities of human tumors in soft agar. Int. J. Cancer 33:807–812; 1984.
Higuchi, M.; Robinson, D. S.; Caileau, R., et al. A serological study of cultured breast cancer cell lines. Lack of antibody response to tumor specific membrane antigens in patients. Clin. Exp. Immunol. 33:90–96; 1980.
Irie, R. F. Oncofetal antigen (OFA-I): A human tumor associated fetal antigen immunogenic in man. In: Rosenber, S. A., ed. Serological analysis of human cancer antigens. New York: Academic Press; 1980:493–504.
Kasai, M.; Saxton, R. E.; Holmes, E. C., et al. Membrane antigens detected on human lung carcinoma cells by hybridoma monoclonal antibodies. J. Surg. Res. 30:403–408; 1981.
Fogh, J.; Fogh, J. M.; Orfeo, T. One hundred and twenty-seven cultured human tumor cell lines producing tumors in nude mice. JNCI 59:221–226; 1977.
Bertelsen, C. A.; Sondak, V. K.; Mann, B. D., et al. Chemosensitivity testing of human solid tumors: A review of 1582 assays with 258 clinical correlations. Cancer 17:1240–1245; 1984.
Darbre, P.; Yates, J.; Curtis, S., et al. Effect of estradiol on human breast cancer cells in culture. Cancer Res. 43:349–354; 1983.
Meyskens, F. K. Human melanoma colony formation in soft agar. In: Salmon S. E., ed. Cloning of human tumor stem cells. New York: Alan R. Liss; 1980:85–99.
Carney, D. N.; Gazdar, A. F.; Bunn, P. A., et al. Demonstration of the stem cell nature of clonogenic tumor cells from lung cancer patients. Stem Cells 1:149–164; 1981.
Rockwell, S. Effect of clumps and clusters on survival measurements with clonogenic assays. Cancer Res. 45:1601–1607; 1985.
Meyskens, F. L., Jr.; Thomason, S. P.; Hickie, R. A., et al. Potential biological explanation of stimulation of colony growth in semi-solid agar by cytotoxic agents. Br. J. Cancer 48:863–868; 1983.
Hamburger, A. W.; Salmon, S. E. Primary bioassay of human tumor stem cells. Science 197:461–463; 1977.
Von Hoff, D. D.; Clark, G. M.; Stogdill, B. J., et al. Prospective clinical trial of a human tumor cloning system. Cancer Res. 43:1926–1931; 1983.
Slocum, H. K.; Pavelic, Z. P.; Rustum, K. M., et al. Characterization of cells obtained by mechanical and enzymatic means from human melanoma, sarcoma, and lung tumors. Cancer Res. 41:1428–1434; 1981.
Hamburger, A. W.; White, C. P.; Brown, R. W. Effect of epidermal growth factor on proliferation of human tumor cells in soft agar. JNCI 67:825–830; 1981.
Pathak, M. A.; Matrision, L. M.; Magun, B. E., et al. Effect of epidermal growth factor on clonogenic growth of primary human tumor cells. Int. J. Cancer 30:745–750; 1982.
Page, M. J.; Field, J. K.; Everett, N. P., et al. Serum regulation of the estrogen responsiveness of the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7. Cancer Res. 43:1244–1250; 1983.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kern, D.H., Chien, FW., Goodwein, S.N. et al. Effects of hormonal growth factors on colony formation and chemosensitivity of human tumors in agarose. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol 23, 863–866 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02620966
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02620966