A study on the relation of the sensitivity to cisplatin and the pattern of cell death in human ovarian carcinoma cell lines treated with cisplatin

Abstract

The cytomorphological manifestations of five human ovarian carcinoma cell lines treated with cisplatin were investigated. The cells of the five lines were killed not only by necrosis but also by apoptosis. In the early stage, cell death showed an apoptotic pattern, however, later presented a necrotic death pattern. The apoptotic cells tended to appear more often in the sensitive lines than in the resistant ones. The pattern of cell death could be diagnosed by cytological specimens, and the assessment of patterns of cell death by cytology was suggested to have clinical usefulness.