Choosing the right intravesical chemotherapeutic agent. Results of an in vitro monolayer cell culture assay.

The use of a monolayer cell culture technique is described. Twenty-four superficial bladder tumours have been tested against Thiotepa, Adriamycin and Mitomycin C. Cultures were set up in parallel for a clonogenic assay after the method of Salmon. In the monolayer all 24 tumours grew; 21 showed a greater than 50% inhibition to Mitomycin, 13 to Adriamycin and 6 to Thiotepa. In the clonogenic assays, only 12 grew satisfactorily. It is concluded that this monolayer assay gives a reasonable prediction of the sensitivities of the commonly used intravesical agents.