In vitro growth and chemosensitivity studies of childhood cancers using clonogenic assay.

We evaluated the usefulness of the recently developed Human Tumor Clonogenic Assay (HTCA) for chemosensitivity studies in childhood cancers. A total of 20 childhood cancer specimens containing 8 neuroblastomas, 4 malignant lymphomas, three hepatoblastomas, two rhabdomyosarcomas, two germinomas and one adrenal carcinoma were assayed. Overall, 65 per cent (13/20) of tumor cell specimens showed adequate colony forming ability to yield the sensitivity of anticancer drugs. The pattern of in vitro sensitivity of a particular tumor to most anticancer drugs tested was not dissimilar to the clinical experiences of these agents. The overall in vitro response rate of childhood cancers to anticancer agents was 51 per cent. A retrospective analysis of this assay revealed a true positive rate of 57 per cent and a true negative rate of 100 per cent.