Many anticancer agents induce an active process that leads to cell death, known as, apoptosis, in sensitive tumor cells. The fragmentation of DNA, an indicator of apoptosis, was analyzed in two different lines of human gastric cancer cells (HSC-39 and MKN-28) that had been exposed to adriamycin and cisplatin. The fragmentation of DNA was detected in HSC-39 cells (signet ring cell gastric carcinoma) after a 1-h incubation with 0.18 mu M and after a 6-h incubation with 0.09 mu M adriamycin, as well as after a 1-h incubation with 1.67 mu M cisplatin. However, in MKN-28 cells (moderately differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma), the fragmentation of DNA was not detected after a 6-h incubation with 0.18 mu M adriamycin or a 6-h incubation with 3.33 mu M cisplatin. The results suggest that signet ring cell gastric carcinoma is more sensitive to adriamycin and to cisplatin than moderately differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma.

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