Comparison between the clonogenic, MTT, and SRB assays for determining radiosensitivity in a panel of human bladder cancer cell lines and a ureteral cell line

Using a series of human bladder cancer cell lines and an immortalised normal ureteral cell line, radiosensitivities measured by three different methods after a single dose of X-radiation are compared. Clear differences between cell survival curves obtained using the clonogenic, microtetrazoline (MTT) and sulforhodamine B (SRB) assays are shown. The most sensitive of the assays investigated was the clonogenic assay. The MTT and SRB assays were found to be relatively insensitive especially at lower radiation levels, suggesting that these assays may not be suitable for predicting therapeutic dose schedules in vivo, but will be important for investigating radio-sensitivity in cell lines with very low plating efficiencies. Each assay discriminated between a range of sensitivities in the cell lines examined, and with some minor differences, the ordering of sensitivities using the three assays was similar. Possible explanations for the differences between results obtained with the three assays are discussed.