title: Predicting the chemosensitivity of ovarian and uterine cancers with the collagen gel droplet culture drug-sensitivity test.
abstract: We investigated the utility of the collagen gel droplet culture drug-sensitivity test (CD-DST) for predicting the response of gynecological cancers to chemotherapy. Eighty-three cancer patients were enrolled in this study: 26 ovarian, 29 cervical and 31 endometrial cancers. The CD-DST was performed at various concentrations of drugs. We calculated the T/C ratio, where T is the total volume of the treated culture and C is the total volume of the control culture, and a T/C ratio of 50% or less was defined as sensitive in vitro. The efficacy rate (%) was defined as the number of cultures with a T/C ratio of 50% or less, divided by the total number of evaluable cultures. True-positive cases were defined as clinical responders (complete+partial responses) and true-negative cases were defined as clinical non-responders. The overall tumor evaluation rate was found to be 79.1%. The appropriate drug concentrations were selected as 1.0 microg/ml for cisplatin, 20.0 microg/ml for carboplatin, 1.0 microg/ml for paclitaxel and 0.1 microg/ml for docetaxel by the linear regression equations. The in vitro sensitivity for each drug showed a significant correlation with clinical response rates (r=0.592, p=0021). We therefore conclude that the CD-DST can be used to predict the response to anti-cancer drugs, and may also provide important information by contributing to the development of new chemotherapy regimens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan. nnagai@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Nobutaka
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Minamikawa
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mukai
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hirata
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Komatsu
authors.forename: Hisayuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D024042:Collagen Type I; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor / Q000379:methods; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D024042:Collagen Type I