[Clonogenic assays in the evaluation of antitumor chemotherapy].

Clonogenic cell assays are a tool for the study of tumor cells. This article reviews some promising results limited to drug evaluation. The SAKK ovarian cancer study confirms the predictive value of chemosensitivity or chemoresistance determined by these tests. Studies on the CASSG/EORTC show the reproducibility of these techniques and their usefulness in preclinical drug evaluation. Routine use of these methods is limited by inaccessibility of tumor cells and no-growth rate.