A PREDICTIVE SCREENING MODEL FOR IN-VITRO SELECTION OF AGENTS WITH POTENTIAL ANTITUMOR-ACTIVITY

In vitro methods are often used to pre-select compounds with potential antitumor activity before animal testing This study presents a second stage screening model used to further evaluate compounds which demons trate interesting antiproliferative activity towards tumor cell lines. The model is based on an antiproliferative assay evaluating I-125-5-i odo-2'-deoxyuridine incorporation in DNA after 66 h compound-cells con tact, carried out on a human leukemic cell line JHL-SOJ and bane marro w cells (BM) from healthy donors. The model identifies compounds which are more toxic against normal cells than tumor cells (unsuitable comp ounds) and focuses attention on the highly selective compounds. Compou nds belonging to a third group identified by the model need to be furt her studied to ascertain their anticancer properties.