ANTIPROLIFERATIVE AGENTS AND DIFFERENTIAL SURVIVAL BETWEEN NORMAL AND CANCER-CELLS

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 38  (11) , 3745-3750
Abstract
A basic difference in response between normal cells (primate fibroblasts [human HS0001, WI-38 and IMR 90 and rhesus monkey DBS-FRhL2]) and colonic cancer cells (human [HT-29 and Led-WIDR] and rodent [mouse line 26]) to the antiproliferative action of N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate and thymidine was described. Normal and colonic cancer cells, when cultured in the presence of these agents, ceased to increase their cell numbers. The normal cells responded to deprivation of pyrimidine nucleotide induced by these agents by simple growth arrest, in which a quiescent state may be maintained for prolonged periods without cell death. Cancer cells responded in a characteristically different manner, in which cell division continued accompanied by limited cell survival, with the surviving population representing a balance of these opposing processes. The extent to which these in vitro findings, based on a limited number of comparisons under restrictive artificial conditions, relate to the in vivo state remains to be established.