Flow cytometric applications to tumour biology: prospects and pitfalls

A brief review of cytometry instrumentation and its potential applications in tumour biology is presented. DNA distribution measurements of cells from spontaneous dog tumours and cultured cells after exposure to X-rays, alpha particles or adriamycin are shown. The data show that DNA fluorescence measurements have application in the study of cell kinetics after either radiation or drug treatment. Extensive and careful experimentation is needed, however, to utilize the sophisticated developments in flow cytometry instrumentation. (author)