Evaluation of chemosensitivity testing with highly purified tumor cells in 435 patients with gastric carcinoma using an MTT assay.

BACKGROUND We evaluated the results of chemosensitivity testing for gastric cancer using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay in terms of the correlation of chemosensitivity and clinicopathological findings. PATIENTS AND METHODS We analyzed 435 consecutive patients with gastric cancer treated between January 1991 and January 2002. Highly purified fresh human gastric cancer cells were obtained from 485 lesions including 415 primary tumors and 70 metastatic tumors. RESULTS CDDP and 5-FU were more potent drugs than MMC, ADR and VP-16. The chemosensitivity of metastatic tumors was lower than that in primary tumors. The chemosensitivity in differentiated cancer was equivalent to that in undifferentiated cancer. The manner of tumor invasion and clinical stage affected chemosensitivity for some drugs. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that individual chemosensitivity testing is essential to individualize chemotherapy for gastric cancer.