In vitro antitumor effect of topoisomerase-I inhibitor, CPT-11, on freshly isolated human gastric and colorectal cancer.

CPT-11 is a comptothecin analogue which has shown a broad spectrum of strong antitumor effect against various cancers, including gastroenterological malignancies. In the present study, the antitumor effect of CPT-11 was determined by MTT assay for freshly isolated human gastric and colorectal cancer cells, especially highly purified tumor cells. Twenty-three patients with gastric cancer, and 32 patients with colorectal cancer were enrolled in this study. Three gastric and 3 colonic cancer cell lines were used to study the antitumor effect of CPT-11, and freshly isolated cancer cells from 3 patients with gastric cancer were investigated. The in vitro antitumor effect was tested by MTT assay, and showed % inhibition rate. CPT-11 and SN-38 showed the antitumor effect as a dose dependent matter for human gastric and colorectal tumor cells in vitro. From the results of chemosensitivity for freshly isolated gastric and colorectal tumor cells, antitumor effect of SN-38 was as strong as other conventional anticancer agents. It was demonstrated that the MTT assay was appropriate for the analysis of the antitumor effects of CPT-11 and SN-38, and that CPT-11 may be a worthwhile choice as an anticancer agent against gastric and colorectal cancer.