The application of computerized analysis of nuclear images and multivariate analysis to the understanding of the effects of antineoplastic agents and their mechanism of action.

The present work involves the creation of a model that makes the rapid study of anticancer drugs possible. In order to make possible the multilevel study of antineoplastic derivatives (their effects on cell proliferation, their cell kinetics, their chromatin texture and the study of their potential operating mechanisms), the computerized analysis of nuclear images linked to multivariate analysis was chosen, and, in so doing, took into account 15 computer-calculated morphonuclear parameters for Feulgen-stained cell nuclei. In order to validate the method it was subjected to a series of well-known cancer drugs. The present results are in agreement with those obtained by conventional methods similar to those used for the study of the cytotoxicity of anticancer molecules or their effect on cell kinetics. Multivariate analysis applied to the parameters described by image analysis should make possible the rapid study of new anticancer drugs together with the rapid orientation of studies undertaken to ascertain their operating mechanisms.