THE IN-VITRO INFLUENCE OF 8 HORMONES AND GROWTH-FACTORS ON THE PROLIFERATION OF 8 SARCOMA CELL-LINES

Little is known about the regulation of sarcoma proliferation by hormo nes and/or growth factors. We therefore characterised the in vitro pro liferative influence on eight sarcoma cell lines of the platelet-deriv ed growth factor, the insulin-like growth factor 1, triiodothyronine, the epidermal growth factor, the luteinising-hormone-releasing hormone , progesterone, gastrin and 17 beta-oestradiol. The influence of the d ifferent factors on the proliferation of sarcoma cell lines was measur ed by the colorimetric (4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazol ium bromide test. Two culture media were studied: (1) a nutritionally poor medium containing 2% of fetal calf serum and (2) a nutritionally rich one containing 5% or 10% FCS both with and without the addition o f non-essential amino acids. The results were analysed either by conve ntional statistical analyses or by a classification method based on a decision-tree approach developed in Machine Learning. This latter meth od was also compared to other classifiers (such as logistic regression and k nearest neighbours) with respect to its accuracy of classificat ion. Monovariate statistical analysis showed that each of the eight ce ll lines exhibited sensitivity to at least one factor, and each factor significantly modified the proliferation of five or six of the eight cell lines under study. Of these eight lines one of fibrosarcoma origi n was the most ''factor-sensitive''. Decision-tree-related data analys is enabled the specific pattern of factor sensitivity to be characteri sed for the three histological types of cell line under study. The eff ects of hormone and growth factors are significantly influenced by the type of culture medium used. The method used appeared to be an accura te classifier for the kind of data analysed. Sarcoma proliferation can be modulated, at least in vitro, by various hormones and growth facto rs, and the proliferation of each histopathological type exhibited a d istinct sensitivity to different hormone and/or growth-factors.