In vitro chemosensitivity using the histoculture drug response assay in human epithelial ovarian cancer

The choice of chemotherapeutic drugs to treat patients with epithelial ovarian cancer has not depended on individual patient characteristics. We have investigated the correlation between in vitro chemosensitivity, as determined by the histoculture drug response assay (HDRA), and clinical responses in epithelial ovarian cancer. Fresh tissue samples were obtained from 79 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer. The sensitivity of these samples to 11 chemotherapeutic agents was tested using the HDRA method according to established methods, and we analyzed the results retrospectively. HDRA showed that they were more chemosensitive to carboplatin, topotecan and belotecan, with inhibition rates of 49.2%, 44.7%, and 39.7%, respectively, than to cisplatin, the traditional drug of choice in epithelial ovarian cancer. Among the 37 patients with FIGO stage III/IV serous adenocarcinoma who were receiving carboplatin combined with paclitaxel, those with carboplatin-sensitive samples on HDRA had a significantly longer median disease-free interval than patients with carboplatin-resistant samples (23.2 vs. 13.8 months, p < 0.05), but median overall survival did not differ significantly (60.4 vs. 37.3 months, p = 0.621). In conclusion, this study indicates that HDRA could provide useful information for designing individual treatment strategies in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.