Cell Proliferation in Human Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin, a fairIy slow-growing locally invasive tumor that occasionally metastasizes, was studied in 12 patients in vivo with the use of intralesional tritiated thymidine as a marker for cell proliferation kinetics. Analysis of the cell cycle of the germinative population revealed that the duration of S-phase was 12.5 hours; G₁,-phase, 28.8 hours; mitotic period (M-phase), 2 hours; G-phase, 6.9 hours; and the total germinative cell cycle, 50.2 hours. The application of cell kinetics to programming chemotherapy for skin cancer with phase-specific cytotoxins was discussed.