agar and Carcinoma--Intraductal--Noninfiltrating

Leukocyte migration inhibition (LMI) in patients with breast cancer was examined by using 3 M-KCl tissue extracts of breast tumors. Tumor extracts were obtained from 12 breast carcinomas of various histological types. In 20 of 65 (30.8%) leukocyte preparations from 25 patients with breast cancer migration was inhibited by breast cancer tissue extracts. In 26 leukocyte preparations from eight healthy persons and 22 preparations from eight patients with benign diseases of the breast migration was not inhibited by the breast cancer extracts. In only two of 47 (4.3%) leukocyte preparations from 12 patients with other cancers migration was inhibited by the extracts. The occurrence of LMI was the highest in leukocytes from the patients with breast cancer showing marked nuclear pleomorphism (10/19, 52.6%) or showing marked mononuclear cell infiltration (6/12, 50.0%). These results suggest that 3 M-KCl tissue extracts of breast cancer may contain tumor-associated antigens in solubilized form and that there may be a correlation between LMI and nuclear pleomorphism of cancer cells of the leukocyte donor as well as mononuclear cell infiltration in the tumor of the leukocyte donor.

Topics: Adenofibroma; Agar; Antigens, Neoplasm; Breast Neoplasms; Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating; Cell Migration Inhibition; Cell Nucleus; Cell Separation; Female; Humans; Leukocytes; Lymphocytes; Mitotic Index; Neoplasm Staging; Sepharose; Staining and Labeling; Tissue Extracts

One hundred and thirty three specimens from mammary and ovarian adenocarcinoma and from melanoma were cultured according to an agar/agar clonogenic assay. Melanoma and ovarian cancers exhibited a 70 per cent rate of success for culture; 50 per cent of the mammary adenocarcinomas were successfully cultured. Fifty-nine ovarian cancers were cultured in order to test the in vitro effectiveness of Cisplatinum and Adriamycin. Thirty percent of cultured tumors gave rise to relevant chemograms. The chemoresistance measured in vitro was correlated to the ineffectiveness of the patient's treatment. In contrast, we were unable to predict chemosensitivity. Taking into account the technical difficulties encountered in these assays, human tumor clonogenic assays cannot at present be proposed as a routine procedure in the prediction of the effectiveness of chemotherapeutic treatments. Nevertheless, they must be developed in order to determine the spectrum of activity of new antineoplastic agents on various human tumors.

Topics: Adenocarcinoma; Agar; Antineoplastic Agents; Breast Neoplasms; Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating; Cisplatin; Colony-Forming Units Assay; Cyclophosphamide; Doxorubicin; Drug Resistance; Female; Humans; Melanoma; Melphalan; Ovarian Neoplasms; Tumor Stem Cell Assay

Relationship between histology, cloning efficiencies and estrogen receptors was studied in the group of breast cancer patient. Mechanical disaggregation gave poor cellular yields since only in 66% cells were ready for the bioassay. Comparison between clonogenic assay, histology and estrogen status of human breast cancer is of a limited value only, because of a small number of patients in our study.

Topics: Agar; Breast Neoplasms; Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating; Clone Cells; Female; Humans; Lymph Nodes; Receptors, Estrogen

Single cell suspensions prepared from human breast cancer specimens by collagenase digestion were cultured in soft agar with phytohemagglutinin-stimulated human lymphocyte-conditioned medium (PHA-LCM). In 6 of 10 different tumors, PHA-LCM-dependent clonal growth was develop. After 12-14 days of incubation, two morphologic types of colony containing 20-500 cells were recognized. Both were composed of lymphocytes of T-cell nature, as judged by cell morphology in smears, cytochemical properties, capacity to form rosettes with sheep erythrocytes, and electron microscopic appearances. Contamination of the tumor cell suspensions by blood could be excluded as a source of the colony-forming lymphocytes, and the incidence of colony-forming cells correlated well with the degree of lymphocyte infiltration of the tumors. Some of the colonies in agar were expanded further in liquid culture in the continuous presence of PHA-LCM. These clones were apparently high in proliferating capacity as compared with the proliferating activity of peripheral T-cell clones obtained from normal blood. These clones were considered to be highly activated T-lymphocytes and to be stimulated to grow in vitro by the T-cell growth factor contained in PHA-LCM. The direct cloning and expansion of such activated T-lymphocytes infiltrating the tumors will be useful for studies on the functional characteristics of these cells.

Topics: Agar; Breast Neoplasms; Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating; Clone Cells; Culture Media; Culture Techniques; Female; Humans; T-Lymphocytes