Study on the sensitivity test of carcinostatic agents by acid phosphatase activity.

A new method of tumor sensitivity test by measurement of the activity of acid phosphatase was presented. Treatment of experimental tumor cells with mitomycin C, chromomycin Aa and 5-fiuorouracil showed that deviation index of the specific activity ran well parallel with viability of the cells in vitro. The deviation index of tumor cells was also in agreement with survival times of tumor bearing mice treated with these drugs. Side effects appeared in animals having high values of deviation indices of liver cells. The effectiveness of the drugs was expressed by the values obtained from tumor cells minus those obtained from liver cells. In case of cyclophosphamide, however, it was difficult to judge by this method. In the therapy with mitomycin C, the r esponse was well correlated with the deviation index of tumor cells and the side effect was also correlated with the deviation index of liver cells. This method could predict the effectiveness of carcinostatic agent especially short acting cytocidal drugs.