CELL CYCLE CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN SOLID TUMORS IN VIVO

The duration of the DNA synthetic phase of solid tumors in six patients was determined in vivo by local injections of tritiated thymidine into tumor nodules on the skin and serial biopsies of the lesions. Labeled mitosis curves constructed from the data obtained revealed a distinct wave of labeled mitoses but no evidence of a second wave of DNA synthesis in all six patients. The duration of S phase was 24, 22 and 24 hr in the three patients with malignant melanomas and 19, 22 and 24 hr in the three patients with breast cancer. The method is relatively simple and requires much lower doses of tritiated thymidine; reproducible data are obtainable in patients with solid tumors in a much shorter period of time than with previous experiments.