POTENTIATION OF TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR-MEDIATED CELL KILLING BY VP16 ON HUMAN OVARIAN-CANCER CELL-LINES - INVITRO RESULTS AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Synergism between recombinant human tumour necrosis factor (rHuTNF) an d DNA topoisomerase II inhibitor VP16 during the killing of cells has been studied in six human ovarian cancer cell lines (A2774, A2780, SW6 26, IGROV-1, SKOV3, Pa1) and a cervical carcinoma cell line (Me180). S tudies were performed using an assay of colony formation inhibition (d rug treatment for 1 h) and a growth inhibition assay (continuous expos ure for 20 h). Concomitant treatment of cells with VP16+rHuTNF enhance d cell killing in all the cell lines tested-an effect observed in both short- and long-term cytotoxicity assays. This study suggests that th e activity of VP16 in ovarian cancer cell fines might be enhanced by r HuTNF in in vitro models.