Anticancer drug action assessed by serial DNA flow cytometry during induction chemotherapy in oral squamous cell carcinoma: impacts on the development of individualized treatment strategies.

Biopsy specimens from 53 advanced oral squamous cell carcinomas were taken before and after intra-arterial induction chemotherapy and analyzed by DNA flow cytometry. The 5-year overall survival rate was 90% in patients with diploid carcinomas in contrast to only 18% of those with pretherapeutically aneuploid tumors. A clear decrease of aneuploid cell numbers during chemotherapy indicated that DNA flow cytometry substantially allows monitoring of cytotoxic effects in vivo. Even if the immediate response to chemotherapy was significantly better in carcinomas with a complete disappearance of aneuploid tumor cells during treatment than in cases with persisting aberrant cells, the overall survival rate was nearly identical in both groups.