Growth patterns and hormonal sensitivity of primary tumor, abdominal metastasis and ascitic fluid from human epithelial ovarian carcinomas in the tumor colony-forming assay.

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The human tumor colony forming assay was used to evaluate the response of ovarian carcinoma cells from primary tumors, ascitic fluids and metastasis to hormonal treatment. In 12/35 patients a sufficient colony formation (greater than 30 colonies/dish) was obtained in order to perform a simultaneous drug testing. The plating efficiency of the metastatic samples (0.12%) was significantly higher (P less than 0.053) than those from the primary tumor (0.076%) or those that were derived from the ascitic fluid (0.082%). Colonies from the metastatic tissues could be evaluated 2-4 days earlier than those from primary tumors. These discrepancies may be due to a heterogeneity in the clonable tumor cell compartment of primary tumor and metastasis. The antiproliferative properties of the antiestrogen tamoxifen and the progestin gestoneron were studied. In 9/12 cases a significant, dose-dependent reduction of colony formation (greater than 70-90% of the controls) was observed after continuous exposure to 1 mumole tamoxifen. No correlation between the dose response and the content of steroid receptors was found. Even estrogen receptor negative tumor samples showed a maximal antiproliferative effect of tamoxifen.