In vitro drug sensitivity testing of human testicular germ cell tumours with cytostatic drugs and interferon alpha-2b.

In spite of the significant advances in the chemotherapy of germ cell neoplasms, some patients do not achieve disease-free status and ultimately die from their diseases. Therefore, it is reasonable to select the best chemotherapeutic agents in these patients by in vitro drug sensitivity assay (IVDSA) in order to apply the most effective agent in case of resistance to primary chemotherapy. Fresh operative cells from 12 testicular germ cell tumours (TGCT) were cultured in vitro. Sensitivity of the tumour cells to interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha), cisplatin, mitomycin C, vinblastine, doxorubicin, etoposide, bleomycin, vincristine (VCR) were tested by a colorimetric assay using MTT. A preexposure viability over 75% was essential for IVDSA. Sensitivity was determined by a more than 50 +/- 2 SD% reduction from the control absorbance. All eight drugs in their high concentrations exhibited cell proliferation inhibition in 83.3 +/- 100% of TGCT. But in low concentrations efficacy of IFN and VCR were found to be lower than the others (33.3% and 58.3%, respectively). The results indicated that although TGCT are highly sensitive to various agents IVDSA may help to identify the effective agents which might be necessary for second line chemotherapy in a small percentage of patients.