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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Implementation of In Vitro Drug Resistance Assays: Maximizing the Potential for Uncovering Clinically Relevant Resistance Mechanisms
08:46

Implementation of In Vitro Drug Resistance Assays: Maximizing the Potential for Uncovering Clinically Relevant Resistance Mechanisms

Published on: December 9, 2015

New thoughts on resistance to chemotherapy

J H Goldie

    Hospital Practice (Office Ed.)
    |May 1, 1983
    PubMed

    Insights

    Cancer treatment failure may stem from drug resistance due to tumor cell mutations. A "front-loaded" approach using multiple effective agents at maximum doses is proposed as the best strategy for initial cancer therapy.

    Area of Science:

    • Oncology
    • Cancer Biology
    • Pharmacology

    Background:

    • Kinetic theories of tumor growth inadequately explain treatment failure.
    • Cancer drug resistance is a significant clinical challenge.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To propose an alternative explanation for cancer treatment failure.
    • To suggest an optimized first-line cancer treatment strategy.

    Main Methods:

    • Review of existing kinetic tumor growth models.
    • Hypothesis generation based on somatic mutation theory in cancer.

    Main Results:

    • Kinetic models do not fully account for treatment resistance.
    • Somatic mutations in tumor cells are proposed as a key driver of drug resistance.

    Conclusions:

    • A
    • front-loaded
    • first-line treatment strategy is recommended.
    • Utilizing multiple effective agents at the highest possible dosages is advocated.

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