DIRECT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HORMONE SENSITIVITY LEVEL AND GROWTH-PATTERN - EVIDENCE IN 18 GASTROINTESTINAL NEOPLASTIC CELL-LINES

OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether a relationship exists in terms of g rowth pattern and hormone sensitivity in 18 gastrointestinal neoplasti c cell lines. Hormones studied included gastrin, epidermal growth fact or, estradiol and luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone. STUDY DESIGN: The growth patterns were assessed by means of computer-assisted micro scope analysis of Feulgen-stained nuclei combined with the mathematica l Delaunay triangulation and Voronoi paving techniques. This methodolo gy enabled four variables characterizing the cell colony patterns to b e computed. The information contributed by these variables was analyze d by means of discriminant analysis and the decision tree technique. R ESULTS: Each phenotype (sensitivity level) exhibited distinct growth p attern (or cell colony level) characteristics in the case of each horm one and/or growth factor under study. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the gastrointestinal cell lines to a given hormone (or growth factor) appeared to be peculiar to the hormone (or growth factor). CONCLUSION: A direct relationship seens to exist between growth pattern and hormo ne sensitivity levels in gastrointestinal cancers, particularly colore ctal.