Human neuroblastoma cells and 13-cis-retinoic acid.

To a limited extent, we corroborated a previous report of human neuroblastoma sensitivity to 13-cis-retinoic acid. Seven cultured human neuroblastoma, two primitive neuroectodermal tumor, and one melanoma cell line were exposed to 0.001 to 10.0 microM 13-cis-retinoic acid for six to fourteen days. The neuroblastoma cell line, SK-N-DZ, was the only cell line lysed by all concentrations of 13-cis-retinoic acid. The other cell lines were refractory to concentrations as high as 10 microM. Increased cell process formation was observed in three neuroblastoma, SK-N-SH, SK-N-BE, SK-N-LE, and one melanoma cell line. We conclude that sensitivity to 13-cis-retinoic acid is unevenly distributed among histogenetically similar tumors from different patients.