title: Response of primary culture of human ovarian cancer cells to chemotherapy: In vitro individualized therapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study focused on whether primary cultures of ovarian cancer (OC) cells established from ascites can be used to evaluate response to chemotherapeutic agents and if curcumin could enhance the efficacy of these agents.
  
  
  METHODS
  We established five primary cultures of ascitic cells from OC patients and treated them with curcumin, carboplatin, and paclitaxel singly and in combinations. The percentage of apoptotic cells was determined by flow cytometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a wide variation in the response of individual primary cultures to treatment with the chemotherapeutic agents. Curcumin by itself was as good as carboplatin or paclitaxel in inducing apoptosis in the primary OC cells. Curcumin was not able to affect the carboplatin mediated cell killing. However, a combination of curcumin and paclitaxel was additive and was equally effective as a combination of carboplatin and paclitaxel. A combination of curcumin carboplatin, and paclitaxel was also found to be additive and, in fact, turned out to be the best combination that gave the highest percentage of apoptosis in vitro.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study highlights the fact that primary cultures of OC cells can be used to detect response to chemotherapeutic agents and help to individualize the treatment offered to OC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University College of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Rajarshi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kar
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Chandresh
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Sudip
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sen
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Sunesh Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Siddhartha Dutta
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Neeta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D015415:Biomarkers; D016190:Carboplatin / Q000494:pharmacology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D003474:Curcumin / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000494:pharmacology; D000077022:Survivin; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; C107489:BIRC5 protein, human; D015415:Biomarkers; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D000077022:Survivin; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D016190:Carboplatin; D003474:Curcumin; D017239:Paclitaxel