[In vitro chemosensitivity of various human tumors evaluated by the SDI (succinate dehydrogenase inhibition) test].

In vitro chemosensitivity was evaluated by SDI test in various human tumors including 1 lymph node metastasis of esophageal cancer, 10 gastric cancers, 4 colo-rectal cancers, 1 hepatoma, 2 lung cancers, 2 breast cancers and 1 gallbladder cancer. Tumor fragments cut with scissors were exposed to twelve kinds of antitumor drugs at five to ten times peak plasma concentration. After 3 days at 37 degrees C, each tumor fragment suspension was washed with phosphate-buffered saline and assayed for succinate dehydrogenase (SD) activity using 3-(4,5- dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2, 5-diphenyl-2H tetrazolium bromide (MTT) as a hydrogen acceptor. When the SD activity of the drug-treated cells was reduced to below 50% that of control cells, the chemosensitivity to the antitumor drug was considered positive. The chemosensitivity of each tumor varied individually. Mitomycin C or 5-fluorouracil are regularly used to treat gastric cancer patients, but, some specimens of gastric cancer in this study showed a resistance to these drugs and an unexpected sensitivity to other drugs. Our results show that the SDI test is a convenient method for clinical use and gives significant information about drug sensitivity.