The clinical application of an ATP assay to predict the chemosensitivity of gastric cancer

The chemosensitivity of human xenografts in nude mice and fresh surgical specimens of gastric cancer was evaluated in vitro using the ATP assay and the MTT assay. The in vitro sensitivity of 6 human xenografts was detected by the ATP assay and compared with the in vivo sensitivity of the xenografts in nude mouse. The assay showed a 56.3% true-positive rate and a 85.7% true-negative rate, with 90.0% sensitivity and 46.2% specificity. When 10 surgical specimens obtained from gastric cancer patients were divided into two groups and sensitivities assessed by the ATP and the MTT assays, the overall correlation of both assays was 81.3%. The ATP assay might be useful in evaluating the chemosensitivity of human gastric carcinomas.