Data acquisition for the histoculture drug response assay in lung cancer

Objective: Application of the histoculture drug response assay for lung cancer was investigated by using data acquired from lung cancer specimens. Methods: From May 1994 through February 2005, histoculture drug response assay data were obtained from 359 lung cancer specimens held in our institute. We examined chemosensitivities of the tissues to cisplatin, doxorubicin, mitomycin C, 5-fluorouracil, docetaxel, paclitaxel, etoposide, irinotecan, and gemcitabine. Cutoff inhibition rates were determined with each drug for non-small cell lung cancer and were used to calculate predictabilities for chemotherapy responses. Results: The evaluability of the histoculture drug response assay was high at 97.4%. Good predictability, including true-positive and true-negative rates of 73.2% and 100%, respectively, with an accuracy of 83.0%, was observed. Conclusion: The histoculture drug response assay appears to be applicable to non-small cell lung cancer for the prediction of responses to chemotherapy.