Enhanced chemosensitivity in acute myeloid leukemia by hematopoietic growth factors : a comparison of the MTT assay with a clonogenic assay

The MTT assay, a colorimetric assay, is found to be suitable for chemosensitivity testing. Recently, it has been suggested that hematopoietic growth factors (HGF) may enhance the effects of cytostatic drugs in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We therefore studied the effects of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), interleukin 3 (IL-3), and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) combined with cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C), daunorubicin (DNR), mitoxantrone (MXT), or etoposide (VP-16) by using the MTT assay. The results were compared with in vitro clonogenic assays. Briefly, AML cells of nine patients were incubated in the presence or absence of G-CSF, IL-3, or GM-CSF under serum-free conditions for 24 hours