Differential sensitivities of five rat hepatoma cell lines to anticancer drugs.

Five permanent tumor cell lines derived originally from either a solid or an ascites biopsy of rat hepatoma exhibited differential sensitivities to bleomycin, Adriamycin, 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine, hydroxyurea, 1-trans-(2)-chloroethyl)-3-(4-methoylcyclohexyl)-1-nitrosourea, and 1-(2-chloroethyl)-3-cyclohexyl-1-nitrosourea. The cells were least sensitive to hydroxyurea and 1-beta-D-arabinofurano-sylcytosine, with some cell lines being almost totally resistant to these drugs. However, from 25- to 700-fold differences in survival were obtained between cell lines treated with either bleomycin or Adriamycin.