Summary
The ChemoFx® Assay is an ex vivo assay designed to predict the sensitivity and resistance of a given patient’s solid tumor to a variety of chemotherapy agents. A portion of a patient’s solid tumor, as small as a core biopsy, is mechanically disaggregated and established in primary culture where malignant epithelial cells migrate out of tumor explants to form a monolayer. Cultures are verified as epithelial and exposed to increasing doses of selected chemotherapeutic agents. The number of live cells remaining post-treatment is enumerated microscopically using automated cell-counting software. The resultant cell counts in treated wells are compared with those in untreated control wells to generate a dose-response curve for each chemotherapeutic agent tested on a given patient specimen. Features of each dose-response curve are used to score a tumor’s response to each ex vivo treatment as “responsive,” “intermediate response,” or “non-responsive.” Collectively, these scores are used to assist an oncologist in making treatment decisions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Gallion, H., Christopherson, W. A., Coleman, R. L., et al. (2006) Progression-free interval in ovarian cancer and predictive value of an ex vivo chemoresponse assay. Int J Gynecol Cancer 16, 194–201.
Ness, R. B., Wisniewski, S. R., Eng, H., and Christopherson, W. (2002) Cell viability assay for drug testing in ovarian cancer: in vitro kill versus clinical response. Anticancer Res 22, 1145–1149.
Kornblith, P., Wells, A., Gabrin, M. J., et al. (2003) In vitro responses of ovarian cancer to platinums and taxanes. Anticancer Res 23, 543–548.
Kornblith, P., Wells, A., Gabrin, M. J., et al. (2003) Breast cancer-response rates to chemotherapeutic agents studied in vitro. Anticancer Res 23, 3405–3412.
Ochs, R. L., Fensterer, J., Ohori, N. P., et al. (2003) Evidence for the isolation, growth, and characterization of malignant cells in primary cultures of human tumors. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim 39, 63–70.
Ochs, R. L., Chattapadhyay, A., Bratton, R., et al. (2004) Phenotypic cell culture assay for predicting anticancer drug responses. Preclinica 2, 205–212.
Samson, D. J., Seidenfeld, J., Ziegler, K., et al. (2004) Chemotherapy sensitivity and resistance assays: a systematic review. J Clin Oncol 22, 3618–3630.
O’Meara, A. T., and Sevin, B.-U. (2001) Predictive value of the ATP chemosensitivity assay in epithelial ovarian cancer. Gynecol Oncol 83, 334–342.
Kern, D. H., and Weisenthal, L. M. (1990) Highly specific prediction of antineoplastic drug resistance with an in vitro assay using suprapharmacologic drug exposures. J Natl Cancer Inst 82, 582–588.
Chu, E., and DeVita, V. T. Jr. (2001) In vitro drug response assays, in Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology (DeVita, V. T. Jr., Hellman, S., and Rosenberg, S. A., eds.), Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA, pp. 302–304.
Fruehauf, J. P. (2002) In vitro assay-assisted treatment selection for women with breast or ovarian cancer. Endocr. Relat. Cancer 9, 171–182.
Flowers, J. L., Ludeman, S. M., Gamcsik, M. P., et al. (2000) Evidence for a role of chloroethylaziridine in the cytotoxicity of cyclophosphamide. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 45, 335–344.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Humana Press Inc.
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Brower, S.L., Fensterer, J.E., Bush, J.E. (2008). The ChemoFx® Assay: An Ex Vivo Chemosensitivity and Resistance Assay for Predicting Patient Response to Cancer Chemotherapy. In: Mor, G., Alvero, A.B. (eds) Apoptosis and Cancer. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 414. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-339-4_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-339-4_6
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-457-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-339-4
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols