Lack of association between in vitro clonogenic growth of human cervical carcinoma and tumour stage, differentiation, patient age, host cell infiltration or patient survival
✍ Scribed by S. E. Davidson; C. M. L. West; R. D. Hunter
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1992
- Tongue
- French
- Weight
- 576 KB
- Volume
- 50
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0020-7136
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✦ Synopsis
Biopsies from I 17 patients with cervical carcinoma were studied using a clonogenic assay to assess in vitro growth. Successful colony growth was achieved in 84 tumours (72%) with a mean colony-forming efficiency (CFE), based on total viable nucleated cell counts, of 0.18 * 0.49% (? I standard deviation). There was a wide range of values, from 0.003-4.28%, with a coefficient of variation of 272%. The relationship between clinical features of cervical carcinoma and in vitro colony formation was investigated. No significant association was demonstrated between in vitro growth and either clinical stage (r = 0.02), tumour differentiation (r = -0.08) or patient age (r = -0.12). There was no significant difference in tumour grade between the group of tumours which failed to grow in culture and those which grew well (p = 0.70). In addition, there was no correlation between CFE and the degree of macrophage (r = O.OOl), lymphocyte (r = O.I2), or granulocyte (r = 0.08) infiltration. There was no significant difference between CFEs of tumours from patients who had died and from those who were alive and well after a minimum of 2 years' follow-up after radiotherapy (p = 0.5 I). Ability to form colonies in agar was not associated with a worse prognosis (p = 0.49). Although CFE is an independent biological parameter, our results suggest that, for cervical carcinoma, it is not useful as a univariate prognostic factor.