Prognostic evaluation of human tumor cell in vitro cloning assay.

In vitro cloning of human tumor cells were carried out for 19 patients: 13 breast cancers (4 metastatic effusions and 9 primary tumors), 3 ovarian cancers, 2 glioblastomas and 1 meningioma. Cloning efficiency varied from 1 X 10(-5) to 2.8 X 10(-3). Tumor cells with the highest cloning rates were provided by patients with rapidly evolving tumors. 7 drug assays were performed: in vitro-in vivo correlation was observed in all cases (drug resistance in 5 cases: drug sensitivity in 2).