CULTURE OF ASCITIC OVARIAN-CANCER CELLS AS A CLINICALLY-RELEVANT EX-VIVO MODEL FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF BIOLOGICAL THERAPIES

There are few in vitro models of human ovarian cancer suitable for the assessment of biological therapies. We have established short-term cu ltures of ovarian carcinoma cells from ascites, maintained in suspensi on in ascitic fluid to help preserve the original tumor cell microenvi ronment. We assessed the effects of a potential biological therapeutic agent, interferon-alpha (IFN alpha), on ovarian cell phenotype. In to tal, eight cultures were established from seven patients. Quantitative changes in cell surface phenotype were determined by now cytometry fo r HLA-ABC, HLA-DR, TAG72, CA125, HMFG1 and HMFG2 antigens. The amount df CA125 antigen shed into the culture media was also assessed. Variat ions in cell surface phenotype between specimens probably reflected th e specific cytokine milieu of the ascites as well as idiotypic differe nces between tumors. Nevertheless, there were consistent phenotypic re sponses to IFN alpha, with up-regulation of MHC Class I but down-regul ation of the HMFG1 and HMFG2 antigens from the cell surface. The resul ts suggest that this approach may be useful in patient selection and f or optimizing biological therapies, as it enables patients' individual tumor responses to exogenous cytokine to be studied against the backg round of the endogenous cytokine milieu.