In vitro effect of antitumor drugs on lymphocytic blastogenesis in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).

"In vitro" sensitivity of lectin (PHA, Con A)-stimulated lymphocytes to antitumor drugs (ARA-C, ADR, VM26, MTX, CP, VCR, Vepesid, ACLA) and the clinical efficiency of the complex therapy was compared in 7 patients with ALL and 2 patients with NHL. H3-thymidin incorporation of lymphocytes labelled prior to the drug exposure was used as "in vitro" method. A fairly good correlation was found between the "in vitro" test and the clinical response to the drug administered. These results suggest that this "in vitro" test is useful in choosing the drugs to be administered in case of malignancies of children.