E. Colomb et Pm. Martin, TESTING OF A CHEMOSENSITIVITY SCREENING METHOD ON SENSITIVE AND RESISTANT BREAST TUMORAL EPITHELIAL-CELL LINES, Analytical cellular pathology, 6(2), 1994, pp. 105-116
Until now chemosensitivity of tumour cells has been evaluated solely o
n the basis of cell growth or survival testing. In order to rapidly ev
aluate sensitivity to anthracyclines, which are well known to disturb
DNA organization, we propose a model based on detection of conformatio
nal changes in DNA structure. Chromatin texture changes were assessed
using a cell image processor which computes six densitometric and nine
texture parameters on each Feulgen-stained nucleus and provides multi
parametric analyses of data. The technique was tested on two cell line
s of human breast cancer, differing only with regard to their sensitiv
ity to anthracycline. The percentage of nuclei affected by the drug an
d distribution of the cell cycle phases were determined on the same ce
lls. This method can be used to predict the efficacy of anthracyclines
used alone or in conjunction with other drugs. It may also be applica
ble for other therapeutic agents causing conformational changes in DNA
structure.