title: [Five year-results of chemoresistance testing in cancer patients].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Translational medicine is a medical field encompassing basic research and development of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for clinical practice. The present scientific paper focuses on our previous experience in the field of chemoresistance testing in patients with oncological diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  Since 2005, we sampled 71 patients with a leukaemia (AML, ALL and CML) and 92 patients with a solid tumour (lung and gastrointestinal tract cancer). Malignant cell in vitro drug resistance testing was carried out using cytotoxic methyl-thiazol tetrazolium (MTT) assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Based on the LC50 (lethal concentration of a drug killing 50% of cell population), we found that patients with acute myeloblastic leukaemia exhibit a greater degree of resistance than patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. In patients with bronchogenic carcinomas, primary resistance to cisplatin was identified in 28% of tested samples, paclitaxel 36%, vincristine 50%, etoposide 56%, vinorelbine 57%, topotecan 62%, gemcitabine 77% and dacarbazine 86%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In vitro tests with gastrointestinal tract cancers also suggested high effectiveness of cisplatin (with the exception of gastric carcinoma) that was comparable with 5-fluorouracil. Even though the MTT assay has some limitations (insufficient number of vital cells, possible contamination by non-malignant cells, etc.), this in vitro method proved very effective in testing malignant cell resistance to clinically used cytostatics.
authors.affiliation: Ustav lekárskej biochémie, JLF UK Martin, Slovenská republika. hatok@jfmed.uniba.sk
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hatok
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matáková
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jureceková
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chudej
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chudý
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hul'o
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dzian
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Strelka
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dobrota
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Racay
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D005260:Female; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult