Differential drug responses of circulating tumor cells within patient blood

Personalized medicine holds great promise for cancer treatment, with the potential to address challenges associated with drug sensitivity and interpatient variability. Circulating tumor cells (CTC) can be useful for screening cancer drugs as they may reflect the severity and heterogeneity of primary tumors. Here we present a platform for rapidly evaluating individualized drug susceptibility. Treatment efficacy is evaluated directly in blood, employing a relevant environment for drug administration, and assessed by comparison of CTC counts in treated and control samples. Multiple drugs at varying concentrations are evaluated simultaneously to predict an appropriate therapy for individual patients. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.