In Germany, over 330,000 new cases of human cancer have been diagnosed each year. The most common modalities to treat cancer are, at first, the removal of the tumour by surgery followed by subsequent radiation and/or chemotherapy. For best results, conventional chemotherapy, applied for an explicit period of time, eradicates all tumour cells remained in the body. Unfortunately, therapeutic standard protocols that are able to achieve a high success ratio are only available for a few types of cancer. In addition, inter-individual differences concerning the response rate and the tumours ability to become resistant toward chemotherapeutic drugs have to be taken into account. Besides, the traditional cytotoxicity-based chemotherapy is associated with deleterious side effects.

CellTrend provides a highly sensitive screening assay to investigate the in-vitro effectiveness of cytotoxic drugs on primary tumor tissue to

* optimize conventional chemotherapeutic protocols
* investigate tumour resistance of individual tissue samples
* reduce costs and save time by usage of ineffective cytotoxic drugs


Differences of tumour sensitivity
Patients with tumours of similar histological type can develop substantial differences in their response to comparable chemotherapy. In other words, conventional chemotherapy can result in different efficacies in distinct patients with the same tumour burden.

Predictive value of the in-vitro chemosensitivity test
Similar to in vitro investigations of bacterial populations in humans in order to find an appropriate antibiotic agent, CellTrend provides a sensitive assay to investigate individual tumour samples for their susceptibility to various chemotherapeutic agents. Several lines of evidence have demonstrated a predictive value for the effectiveness of a drug by 80% in breast and 85% to 90% in ovarian cancer, respectively after in-vitro chemosensitivity testing. Notably, the possibility of the development of tumor resistancy could be predicted with nearly 100% security.

Test principle
We collect and incubate tumor cells that are obtained from individual specimens. The effects of different cytostatic drugs on cellular proliferation in-vitro will be investigated. The selection of chemotherapeutic agents is mainly based on standard protocols and can be modified as needed (see below).

Tumor material
The tumor cells appropriate for in-vitro analysis derive from either surgical tumour samples, biopsies or ascites and pleurocentensis.

Recommended amount of tumor samples
Surgical material of approximately one gram (fingernail size)
entire biopsy sample
ascites or pleurocentensis of approximately one liter


Selection of chemotherapeutic drugs for in-vitro analysis
For in-vitro analysis we have been using cytostatic or cytotoxic drugs primarily related to current standard protocols available for the treatment of a particular type of tumor. The activity of antitumor agents will be investigated as treatment alone and in combination as requested on the form.

Shipping
CellTrend organizes the transport of tumor samples (within Europe) including cooling box and plastic tubes that are filled with buffer solution especially developed for this assay. We deliver the package together with a request form that contains information nessecary for in-vitro analysis of the tumour sample and a statement of the patients agreement.

References
We are glad to provide references and related articles about in-vitro sensitivity test of cytotoxic drugs.

Note
The expenses for in-vitro analysis of chemotherapeutic drugs are generally payed by companies that cover private health insurance. Up to date, other health insurance plan do not provide refunds based on their current established standards. This may include, in addition, the regulation of charges for the physician (GOÄ). To process the in-vitro screening of chemotherapeutic drugs on tumour samples, a formal agreement of the patient will be needed.