title: The Reliability of Histoculture Drug Response Assay (HDRA) in Chemosensitivity Tests for Breast Cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cancers are highly individual in their response to chemotherapy, however attempts to predict tumor response to drugs using in vitro cell culture have largely failed. A new technology, the histoculture drug response assay (HDRA), appears to have solved many previous problems. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the reliability of HDRA in a chemosensitivity test for breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tumor specimens from breast cancer patients were evaluated by HDRA using different chemotherapeutic agents. Each specimen was tested using a blind method in order to determine the reproducibility of HDRA results for the same tissue and with a triplicated assay in order to determine reproducibility by different examiners. The evaluative power of this assay and the chemosensitivity of drugs for each specimen was determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Specimens of 92.9% (65/70) were successfully cultured and evaluated for chemosensitivity. The reproducibility of HDRA for the same tissue was 75% (100% agreement) and 100% (over 70% agreement), respectively. And the reproducibility by different examiners was 78.9% (100% agreement) and 94.7% (over 70% agreement), respectively. Each specimen demonstrated a response to at least one agent.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The evaluative power and reproducibility of HDRA were high, therefore it might serve as a reliable clinical method for chemosensitivity testing. However, there is a need for clinical trial in which patients are initially randomized for treatment either by HDRA direction or by clinician's choice.
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Ahn
keywords: Breast neoplasm; Chemosensitivity test