Sensitivity of human pancreatic carcinoma cell line (MIA PaCa-2) to Bisantrene and Theprubicin in vitro.

We tested the effect of Bisantrene (BS) and Theprubicin (THP-ADR) on cell growth of a human pancreatic carcinoma cell line (MIA PaCa-2). After 1 h exposure ID50 of BS or THP-ADR was 3 X 10(-7) and 5 X 10(-8) M, respectively. Increasing the exposure time from 1 h to continuous exposure for 5d resulted in 11-fold decrease in ID50 for BS and a 6-fold decrease for THP-ADR. Both drugs inhibited [14C]thymidine incorporation to the same extent and caused an accumulation of cells into G2 + M phase of the cell cycle.