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Progression‐free interval in ovarian cancer and predictive value of an ex vivo chemoresponse assay
  1. H. Gallion*,
  2. W. A. Christopherson†,
  3. R. L. Coleman‡,
  4. L. Demars§,
  5. T. Herzog∥,
  6. S. Hosford,
  7. H. Schellhas#,
  8. A. Wells** and
  9. B.-U. Sevin††
  1. *Precision Therapeutics, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  2. †Mercy Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  3. ‡University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
  4. §Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire
  5. ∥Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
  6. North Lake Medical Center, Women's Cancer Alliance, Tucker, Georgia
  7. #Tri-Health and Alliance Hospitals of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, and St. Elizabeth Medical Center, Edgewood, Kentucky
  8. **University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh VAMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  9. ††Mayo Medical College, Jacksonville, Florida
  1. Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Dr Holly Gallion, Precision Therapeutics Inc., 2516 Jane Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203, USA. Email: hgallion{at}ptilabs.com

Abstract

The study objective was to determine the effectiveness of a phenotypic chemoresponse assay in predicting response to chemotherapy measured by progression-free interval (PFI) in a retrospective series of ovarian cancer patients whose tumor specimens had been tested with the ChemoFx® assay. A statistically significant correlation between assay prediction of response and PFI was observed in 256 cases with an exact or partial match between drug(s) assayed and received. In 135 cases with an exact match, the hazard ratio for progression of the resistant group was 2.9 (confidence interval [CI]: 1.4–6.3; P < 0.01) compared to the sensitive group and 1.7 (CI: 1.2–2.5) for the intermediate compared to the sensitive group. The median PFI for patients treated with drugs assayed as resistant was 9 months, 14 months for those with drugs assayed as intermediately sensitive, and PFI had not been achieved for those with drugs assayed as sensitive. These data indicate that the ChemoFx® assay is predictive of PFI in ovarian cancer. As the majority of ovarian cancers display different degrees of response to different chemotherapy agents ex vivo, the incorporation of assay information into treatment selection has the potential to improve clinical outcomes in ovarian cancer patients.

  • chemoresponse assay
  • ovarian cancer
  • response to chemotherapy

https://doi.org/10.1136/ijgc-00009577-200601000-00032

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    Footnotes

    • These data are original and have not been published or submitted elsewhere, except as abstract 5074, Annual Meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in New Orleans, June 2004.

    • These studies were supported by Precision Therapeutics, Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA). Dr Wells, Coleman, DeMars, Herzog, and Sevin have provided consultation to PTI. Dr Wells is a stockholder and Dr Gallion is an employee.