A comparison of adriamycin and mAMSA in vitro: cell lethality and SCE studies.

We have compared the actions of ADM and mAMSA in Chinese hamster V79 cells in vitro, using cell survival and sister-chromatid exchange as end-points. Equimolar concentrations of ADM and mAMSA show similar toxicities to exponentially growing cells, and both drugs are less effective in killing chronically hypoxic and plateau-phase cells. Cytotoxicity to thermotolerant cells (41 degrees C for 16 h previously) shows little difference from that for exponential cells. Pre-treating cells with misonidazole under hypoxic conditions reduces the toxicity of both ADM and mAMSA. In addition, an ADM-resistant Chinese hamster cell line, 77A-177, was cross-resistant to mAMSA. Finally, low equimolar sub-toxic doses of both drugs were found to cause similar increases in the levels of sister-chromatid exchanges in V79 cells. These results reveal no major difference in activity between ADM and mAMSA in vitro.