Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 12, 2026
Enrichment for Chemoresistant Ovarian Cancer Stem Cells from Human Cell Lines
Published on: September 10, 2014
In vitro chemoresponse to cisplatin and outcomes in cervical cancer
Perry W Grigsby1, Israel Zighelboim, Matthew A Powell
1Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. pgrigsby@wustl.edu
Objective:
The aim of this study was to report clinical outcomes of cervical cancer patients treated with weekly cisplatin chemo-radiation therapy (chemoRT) stratified by pre-treatment cisplatin in vitro chemosensitivity.
Methods:
This was a retrospective analysis of patients with cervical cancer seen at our institution between May 2009 and August 2011. Patients underwent pre-treatment in vitro chemoresponse testing (Precision Therapeutics, Inc.) and were treated with concurrent weekly cisplatin chemoRT. The study consisted of 33 patients with FIGO tumor stages Ib2 to IIIb. Pre-treatment cisplatin chemoresponse of individual patient tumors was determined from chemoresponse dose response curves and scored as responsive (R), intermediate response (IR), or nonresponsive (NR).
Results:
There were 28 patients with squamous cell carcinoma and 5 with adenocarcinoma. Cisplatin chemosensitivity was R and IR in 18 patient specimens and NR in 15. The 2-year recurrence-free survivals (RFS) were 87% for patients whose specimens tested R+IR to cisplatin compared to 58% for those whose specimens were NR (p=0.036). The 2-year RFS were 86% for the R+IR group compared to 46% for the NR group for patients with tumors of squamous cell histology (p=0.009). Stepwise proportional hazards modeling for RFS demonstrated that chemoresponsiveness to cisplatin (p=0.029) and FDG-PET lymph node status (p=0.011) were the only independent predictors of RFS for patients with tumors of squamous cell histology.
Conclusion:
Pre-treatment in vitro cisplatin chemoresponse testing of cervix cancer biopsies was technically feasible and prognostic of RFS in patients treated with weekly cisplatin chemoRT.
