For
Release at 6:00am EST May 9, 2002
NEWS – NEWS – NEWS
ANTICANCER’S
IN VITRO DRUG RESPONSE ASSAY FOR
INDIVIDUAL CANCER PATIENT TUMORS CORRELATES WITH SURVIVAL
San Diego, May 9, 2002.
AntiCancer, Inc.’s histoculture drug response assay (HDRA) has been
shown to be an effective method for in vitro drug response assessment of
individual cancer patients. In a
newly published study, AntiCancer and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of
New York have collaborated to demonstrate correlation of results in the HDRA
with survival in individual patients with head and neck cancer.
Tumor specimens from 41 of 42 patients undergoing
treatment for head and neck cancer were successfully evaluated by the HDRA.
Tumor tissue was cultured followed by in
vitro evaluation of tumor sensitivity with cisplatin or 5-fluorouracil, two
drugs most often used in head and neck cancer.
A control group received no drug treatment.
After completion of drug treatment, the relative cell survival in the
tumors was determined and compared to survival of patients treated with the same
drugs.
Survival was significantly greater for patients
whose tumors were sensitive to 5-fluorouracil, cisplatinum, or both agents in
the HDRA. The association between
HDRA assessment of drug sensitivity and patient survival remained significant
with tumors of all stages as well as recurrent cancer. The new study was
published in the latest issue of the journal Head and Neck.
Shigeo Yagi, Vice President of AntiCancer, noted
that “AntiCancer’s individualized in
vitro patient tumor drug sensitivity test can identify effective drugs for
cancer patients. Dr. Yagi said that
“empirical chemotherapy given to most patients does not account for each
patient’s highly individualized tumor, which may or may not respond to any
given cancer drug. Testing
patients’ tumors in vitro allows
individualized treatment programs based on the genetic properties of each tumor.
AntiCancer’s technology is effective, since tumors are cultured as
tissue in vitro, preserving their
basic in vivo properties.”
AntiCancer, founded in 1984 and based
in San Diego, is also developing new drugs for cancer based on genetic
engineering, targeting cancer-specific metabolic defects.
The company’s MetaMouse® metastatic mouse models of cancer engineered
to be imageable with fluorescent proteins are utilized worldwide in cancer drug
discovery and evaluation. The
company is also developing diagnostics for cancer and other diseases as well as
gene therapy of cancer and other diseases.
For more information, see AntiCancer’s website at
www.anticancer.com
or contact Charlene M. Cooper, Tel: (800) 511-2555
or (858) 654-2555,
Fax: (858) 268-4175, E-mail: all@anticancer.com
Bhuvanesh Singh, Rongou Li, Li Xu, Ashok Poluri, Snehal Patel, Ashok R. Shaha, David Pfister, Eric Sherman, Andy Goberdhan, Robert M. Hoffman, Jatin Shah HEAD & NECK 24, 437-442, 2002