A method to measure the radio and chemosensitivity of human spheroids.

A method based on the spontaneous outgrowth of cells from spheroids was tested. Different outgrowth patterns were seen depending on the types of spheroids and on the radiation or drug doses. The method allowed dose-effect relations to be determined. Spheroid survival was defined as when the outgrowing monolayers contained at least thousand cells within five weeks. The method was used as an alternative to cloning of isolated single cells. The glioma and osteosarcoma spheroids could not be disintegrated to single cell suspensions since they resisted enzymatic and mechanical treatments for cell separation. Detection of differences in radio and chemosensitivity between different types of spheroids of human origin might be valuable for the understanding of the large variations in therapeutical response often seen between different types of tumors.