[Anti-tumor activity of ACNU against malignant glioma--a clinical application of in vitro sensitivity test of chemotherapeutic agent].

In vitro sensitivity test of cultured human malignant glioma cells to ACNU[1-(4-amino-2-methyl-5-pyrimidinyl) methyl-3-(2-chloroethyl)-3-nitrosourea hydrochloride] was performed on Falcon 3064 microtestplate. Early culture cells established from 10 clinical cases were examined by means of this method and the correlation between in vitro response and clinical response of tumor to ACNU was studied. In microtestplate assay, it was defined as ACNU sensitive when the tumor growth showed more than 60% suppression when tumor was cultured in the medium which contained 40 meg/ml of ACNU. Clinical responses were evaluated by means of CT scan, being divided into 4 classes, PR (partial response), CR (complete response), NC (no change) and PD (progressive disease). The former two groups were regarded as responder and the latter two as nonresponder. The correlationship between in vitro response and clinical response was higher in resistant group (100%) than in the sensitive group (60%), so the resistant tumor can be checked with this method. For this reason, the use of this assay may prove helpful in the selection of the chemotherapeutic agents.