THE ABILITY TO GROW, MAINTAIN, AND CONDUCT EXPERIMENTS ON CELL CULTURES DERIVED FROM BIOPSIES AND SURGICAL SPECIMENS FROM HUMAN CANCER PATIENTS WOULD BE OF POTENTIAL BENEFIT TO ONCOLOGISTS IN THEIR SEARCH FOR, AND SELECTION OF, APPROPRIATE THERAPEUTIC

THE ABILITY TO GROW, MAINTAIN, AND CONDUCT EXPERIMENTS ON CELL CULTURES DERIVED FROM BIOPSIES AND SURGICAL SPECIMENS FROM HUMAN CANCER PATIENTS WOULD BE OF POTENTIAL BENEFIT TO ONCOLOGISTS IN THEIR SEARCH FOR, AND SELECTION OF, APPROPRIATE THERAPEUTIC MODALITIES USED IN TREATMENT OF THEIR PATIENTS. WE BELIEVE THE USE OF KARYON TECHNOLOGY'S GELTRAP IN VITRO CELL CULTURE SYSTEM WOULD FACILITATE THE GROWTH OF TUMOR CELLS DERIVED FROM SUCH PATIENT SPECIMENS. SIMPLE GEL TECHNOLOGIES HAVE ENABLED KARYON TO SUCCESSFULLY GROW MANY TYPES OF TRANSFORMED/TUMORIGENIC CELL TYPES INCLUDING BOTH SUSPENSION CELLS AND ANCHORAGE-DEPENDENT CELLS IN IN VITRO CULTURE SYSTEMS. THIS SYSTEM WOULD EASILY LEND ITSELF TO INDIVIDUAL ON-SITE ISOLATION AND GROWTH OF THESE CELLS IN A SIMPLE AND EFFICIENT MANNER. GROWTH OF SUFFICIENT NUMBERS OF CELLS IN VITRO CAN BE ACHIEVED TO ENABLE ONE TO CONDUCT CYTOTOXICITY STUDIES. THE GELTRAP SYSTEM WOULD PROVIDE AN ADEQUATE MOLECULAR ENVIRONMENT WHICH CLOSELY RESEMBLES THAT FOUND IN VIVO. THE SYSTEM ALSO FACILITATES THE HANDLING, FEEDING AND GROWTH ASSESSMENT OF SUCH CULTURES.