Clonogenic Survival Assay

Overview

The clonogenic survival assay (colony-formation assay) measures the reproductive capacity of cells after treatment by plating dissociated cells at low density and counting colonies (typically ≥50 cells) after 1–3 weeks. It is the gold-standard in vitro assay for quantifying drug sensitivity and cytotoxic effect, as it captures both cell death and loss of proliferative capacity.

Used by

• Used to quantify PARP inhibitor (olaparib) sensitivity in TRMT10A, USP10, BRCA1, and PARP1 shRNA-knockdown LNCaP, C4-2, 22Rv1, DU145, and PC-3 prostate cancer cell lines; TRMT10A knockdown produced PARPi sensitization comparable to BRCA1 knockdown, and TRMT10A overexpression in PC-3 reduced olaparib sensitivity PMID:28068672.

Notes

• Used alongside DR-GFP/EJ5-GFP reporter assays and xenograft studies to establish in vitro–in vivo concordance.
• Colony count readout allows quantification of drug IC50 and survival fraction across dose ranges.

Sources

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