Use of the MTT Chemosensitivity Assay in B-Cell Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

The possibility of evaluating the susceptibility of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) cells to chemotherapeutic agents pre-clinically, was assessed using the MTT colorimetric assay. The results so far obtained suggest that this rapid 3-4 days' test is accurate and reliable and may allow the physician to recognize individual B-CLL cases in which the neoplastic clone is resistant to Chlorambucil. Furthermore, the high efficacy of Fludarabine clearly emerges from these in vitro analyses. The possibility of employing Chlorambucil in combination with alpha Interferon is suggested and the relevance of using this simple test for better drug selection in B-CLL patients is discussed.