Drug sensitivity testing of carcinoma of the gallbladder and biliary tree in a human tumor cloning assay.

We have received and attempted to culture 27 specimens from 26 patients with carcinoma of the gallbladder and biliary tree. Evaluable growth, defined as greater than or equal to 20 tumor colonies per control plate, was obtained in 8 (30%) of the specimens. Thirteen of the specimens (48%) did not grow and 6 (22%) were contaminated. The specimens with evaluable growth yielded 44 drug tests of which 12 (27%) resulted in less than or equal to 50% survival when compared to the untreated control plates. The standard chemotherapeutic agents carmusine (BCNU), cis-platinum, mitomycin-C, and vinblastine as well as the investigational agents mitoxantrone, acronycine, acivicin, and methylglyoxalbisguanylhydrazone (MGBG) demonstrated some in vitro activity and could be useful in carcinoma of the gallbladder and biliary tree. The human tumor cloning assay can be used to look for standard and investigational agents which should be tried against this relatively rare tumor.