Evaluation of the efficacy of potential antineoplastic drugs on tumour metastasis by a computer-assisted image analysis

Computerised image analysis, performed on histological sections of (C57BL6/ N) mouse lungs that had been intravenously (i.v.) injected with B16-F10 mel anoma cells was used to develop a novel method to quantify the efficacy of potential antineoplastic drugs. This procedure allowed the evaluation of th e rate of inhibition of growth and the anti-invasive capability of new mole cules, thus resulting in more accurate data than that obtained from common macroscopical counting of surface metastatic foci. Several morphological pa rameters can be measured by this method: the percentage of tissue area occu pied by metastases, which accounts for tumour implantation into the organ; the growth index, related to the size of the metastases, and the invasion i ndex, related to the frequency of foci. These morphometric data were found to be correlated to the levels of lung, hydroxyproline and transglutaminase activity, well known markers of tumour invasion and cell differentiation, respectively. The main objective of this computerised procedure was to eval uate how the tumour cell is affected in the host by the drug under investig ation. The use of the method is exemplified by an analysis of the antitumou r activity of some methylxanthines. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All righ ts reserved.