Multicellular spheroids grown directly from human tumour material.

Human tumour cells from surgical material were grown as multicellular spheroids. In 16 out of 20 cultures spheroids with a diameter of more than 250 microns could be observed. In 6 out of 20 cultures more than 30 spheroids with a diameter of at least 300 microns were obtained, i.e. 30% of the cultures fulfilled the criterion for a possible chemosensitivity test on primary cell spheroids. A study of stained sections from the spheroids and the respective tumours, showed that the morphology of the spheroid was very similar that of the tumour from which the cells were derived. Samples from 9 malignant melanomas, 4 bladder carcinomas, 2 renal-cell carcinomas, 2 ovarian carcinomas, 1 lymphoma, 1 colon carcinoma, and 1 schwannoma were tested for spheroid growth. Spheroids were obtained from at least one representative of all these tumour types. However, investigations involving larger numbers of tumours are needed to find out which tumour types are most suitable for further biological characterization of primary cell spheroids and tests for therapy response.