Use of nude mouse xenografts as preclinical drug screens. Further studies on in vitro growth of xenograft tumor colony-forming cells.

Previous studies suggested tumor colony-forming cells (CFC) grown from xenografts might be useful as a preclinical, in vitro drug screen. To further evaluate this possibility, eight melanoma and six ovarian carcinoma xenografts were established from untreated patients and tested for in vitro CFC growth. For each tumor, linear relationships between cells plated and colony (30 cells or greater than 75 micron diameter) and cluster (10-30 cells or 50-75 micron) growth were observed. All eight melanomas grew sufficient colonies (greater than or equal to 30) for in vitro drug assessment, although four required hypoxic (pO2 = 40) incubation to reliably attain this level of growth. Only one in six of the ovary xenografts consistently grew enough colonies, and growth was not significantly improved by hypoxic incubation, or addition of luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, or steroid hormones. Cloning efficiencies (colonies + clusters/cells plated) for tumors demonstrating adequate growth ranged from 0.01% to 0.3%. For most tumors, no direct relationship was observed between characteristics of xenograft tumors (size) or their resulting cell suspensions (viabilities, cell yield) and CFC growth. Cell suspensions were incubated with a 3 log concentration of nine established chemotherapeutic agents. Resulting dose-effect curves were linear and showed no plateaus of drug effect. Analyzing 447 in vitro drug trials on six melanomas and one ovarian carcinoma, interexperiment variability was high. Cell lines were established from three xenografts using a low concentration of fetal bovine serum (1%), and also examined for in vitro drug sensitivity. Using both liquid culture isotope incorporation and a colony-forming assay, drug sensitivity profiles for the cell lines were nearly identical to those for parent xenograft CFC. However, assays performed using the cell lines were more reproducible than those using xenograft tissue. The authors conclude that tumor CFC can be reliably grown from melanoma xenografts, but in vitro drug assays using these xenografts are poorly reproducible. The xenografts are a resource for establishing cell lines, and drug assays performed using these lines are highly reproducible. Similarities in drug sensitivity profiles for parent xenograft CFC and derived cell lines suggest that, despite poor reproducibility, repetitive assays using melanoma CFC accurately reflect some properties of cells which sustain tumor cell growth.