PACLITAXEL AND CISPLATIN SENSITIVITY OF OVARIAN-CARCINOMA CELL-LINES TESTED WITH THE 96-WELL PLATE CLONOGENIC-ASSAY

Platinum based chemotherapy is the cornerstone of treatment in advance d ovarian carcinoma. Paclitaxel, an unique antimicrotubule agent has s hown significant clinical activity in cisplatin-resistant tumours, ind icating a lack of cross-resistance. to compare the in vitro sensitivit y of ovarian carcinoma to cisplatin and paclitaxel, we tested 7 ovaria n carcinoma cell lines with the 96-well plate clonogenic assay. Chemos ensitivity was expressed as the IC50 values for paclitacel were 0.4-3. 4 nM, showing an 8.5-fold difference between various cell lines. The I C50 values for cisplatin were 0.1-0.45 ug ml(-1) showing only a 4.5-fo ld difference. This variance is clearly smaller than the 25-fold diffe rence observed with the same method in endometrial carcinoma cell line s (Rantanen et al, Br J Cancer 69: 482-86, 1994). In accordance with c linical findings, no cross-resistance or correlation between sensitivi ty to paclitaxel and cisplatin could be demonstrated.