RAPID CYTOCIDAL AND CYTOSTATIC CHEMOSENSITIVITY TEST BY MEASURING TOTAL AMOUNT OF MESSENGER-RNA

Chemosensitivity of vinblastin, cisplatin, and mitomycin C were assess ed in four different human cancer cell lines (U937, HL-60, CaR-1, and HepG2) by MTT (4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2.5-diphenyltetrazolium bromi de) assay and the measurement of total cytosolic poly(A) + mRNA. Resul ts of 12 h mRNA assay with 10 x peak plasma concentration (PPC) were s ignificantly correlated with that of standard 3 days MTT assay with 1 x PPC. Furthermore, mRNA assay was changed more significantly than MTT assay under cytostatic condition. Because of its minimum culture requ irement (12 h) and broad spectrum (cytocidal and cytostatic), mRNA ass ay will become a useful tool for chemosensitivity test. (C) 1997 Elsev ier Science Ireland Ltd.