Evaluation of a soluble tetrazolium/formazan assay for cell growth and drug sensitivity in culture using human and other tumor cell lines.

We have previously described the application of an automated microculture tetrazolium assay (MTA) involving dimethyl sulfoxide solubilization of cellular-generated 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT)-formazan to the in vitro assessment of drug effects on cell growth (M.C. Alley et al., Proc. Am. Assoc. Cancer Res., 27:389, 1986; M.C. Alley et al., Cancer Res. 48:589-601, 1988). There are several inherent disadvantages of this assay, including the safety hazard of personnel exposure to large quantities of dimethyl sulfoxide, the deleterious effects of this solvent on laboratory equipment, and the inefficient metabolism of MTT by some human cell lines. Recognition of these limitations prompted development of possible alternative MTAs utilizing a different tetrazolium reagent, 2,3-bis(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-5-[(phenylamino)carbonyl] -2H- tetrazolium hydroxide (XTT), which is metabolically reduced in viable cells to a water-soluble formazan product. This reagent allows direct absorbance readings, therefore eliminating a solubilization step and shortening the microculture growth assay procedure. Most human tumor cell lines examined metabolized XTT less efficiently than MTT; however, the addition of phenazine methosulfate (PMS) markedly enhanced cellular reduction of XTT. In the presence of PMS, the XTT reagent yielded usable absorbance values for growth and drug sensitivity evaluations with a variety of cell lines. Depending on the metabolic reductive capacity of a given cell line, the optimal conditions for a 4-h XTT incubation assay were 50 micrograms of XTT and 0.15 to 0.4 microgram of PMS per well. Drug profiles obtained with representative human tumor cell lines for several standard compounds utilizing the XTT-PMS methodology were similar to the profiles obtained with MTT. Addition of PMS appeared to have little effect on the metabolism of MTT. The new XTT reagent thus provides for a simplified, in vitro cell growth assay with possible applicability to a variety of problems in cellular pharmacology and biology. However, the MTA using the XTT reagent still shares many of the limitations and potential pitfalls of MTT or other tetrazolium-based assays.

Lysis of herpesvirus-infected cells by macrophages activated with free or liposome-encapsulated lymphokine produced by a murine T cell hybridoma.

Thioglycolate-induced mouse peritoneal macrophages were activated in vitro by the lymphokine designated macrophage-activating factor (MAF) produced by a murine T cell hybridoma to lyse herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2)-infected murine target cells. Comparison of uninfected BALB/c 10E2 cells with HSV-2-infected 10E2 cells showed that macrophages activated with MAF selectively destroyed HSV-2-infected cells and left uninfected cells unharmed, as measured by an 18-h 51Cr-release assay. In contrast, macrophages treated with medium were as efficient as MAF-activated macrophages in suppressing the production of HSV-2 from virus-infected cells. These findings suggest that macrophages must attain an activated state to lyse HSV-2-infected cells. Finally, incubation of macrophages with liposomes containing MAF was shown to be a highly efficient method for activation of macrophages against HSV-2 infected cells. The ability to selectively destroy herpesvirus-infected cells in vitro by macrophages activated with liposome-encapsulated MAF suggests that the therapeutic efficacy of this treatment in vivo should be evaluated.