Background: The tetrazolium dye (MTT) assay is useful for predicting chemosensitivity.
Materials and methods: Using the MTT assay, an in vitro chemosensitivity test was designed for nedaplatin (cis-diammine glycolato platinum; 254-S) and the results were compared with the sensitivity to cisplatin in 137 resected gynecological carcinomas.
Results: The mean tumor inhibition rate [I.R.; %] for nedaplatin was equal or superior to cisplatin in 15 cervical [70.7% vs. 63.9%], 65 ovarian [61.7% vs. 54.8%] and 57 endometrial carcinomas [52.1% vs. 47.7%]. In ovarian carcinomas, the I.R.s for nedaplatin were significantly higher than cisplatin in poorly-differentiated, serous and endometrioid adenocarcinomas 180.7% vs. 56.4% (p < 0.05), 77.0% vs. 64.9% (p < 0.01), and 68.2% vs. 54.6% (p < 0.05), respectively].
Conclusion: Our data suggest that nedaplatin has equivalent or superior antitumor activity to cisplatin in cervical, ovarian and endometrial carcinomas. In particular, nedaplatin showed a significantly better antitumor activity among the histological subtypes of ovarian carcinomas.