Response to Doxorubicin of Cultured Normal and Cancerous Human Mammary Epithelial Cells

• Published in: JNCI : Journal of the National Cancer Institute 1985-02, Vol.74 (2), p.341-347
• Main Authors: Smith, Helene S., Lippman, Marc E., Hiller, Alan J., Stampfer, Martha R., Hackett, Adeline J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antineoplastic agents; Biological and medical sciences; Breast - drug effects; Breast Neoplasms - drug therapy; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Carcinoma - pathology; Cell Survival - drug effects; Cells, Cultured; Colony-Forming Units Assay; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Doxorubicin - pharmacology; Epithelium - drug effects; Female; Freezing; General aspects; Humans; Medical sciences; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Tissue Preservation; Tumor Stem Cell Assay
• ISSN: 0027-8874; 1460-2105
• DOI: 10.1093/jnci/74.2.341

Epithelial cells were isolated and cultured from a number of human mammary specimens of both cancerous and noncancerous origin. Doxorubicin (Dx) sensitivity was measured at second passage with the use of a highly efficient clonogenic assay. For 23 different tumor specimens derived from patients without previous chemotherapy, the drug concentrations required to kill 50% of the cells varied approximately 35-fold. In contrast, for 11 tumor specimens from patients who relapsed after regimens containing Dx, the drug concentration for 50% survival varied only fivefold and the dose-response curves for these specimens dustered at the more resistant end of the spectrum. A wide range of sensitivities was also observed among 13 noncancerous mammary specimens; however, tumor tissue and noncancerous tissue from the same donor were similar. When cultures were subjected to drug incubation periods of 1 and 4 hours, dose-response curves were superimposable when plotted as a function of drug concentration multiplied by time.