E. Rojas et al., MITOTIC INDEX AND CELL-PROLIFERATION KINETICS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF ANTINEOPLASTIC ACTIVITY, Anti-cancer drugs, 4(6), 1993, pp. 637-640
The mitotic index (MI) and cell proliferation kinetics (CPK) of human
blood lymphocyte cultures were determined to evaluate the effects of s
ix antineoplastic drugs with well known cytostatic activity: cisplatin
, melphalan, bleomycin, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil and 6-mercaptopur
ine. All six drugs showed a clear effect on the inhibition of MI. The
first three drugs interact directly with DNA showing a dose-related re
tardation of CPK. Methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil and 6-mercaptopurine, w
hich act on ribonucleotide biosynthesis, showed no significant effects
on CPK. The results suggest that CPK and MI measurements are useful f
or the prescreening of drugs with potential cytostatic activity.