MiCK assay effective in predicting best chemotherapy response for Endometrial Cancer patients: Study

Oncologists working with DiaTech Oncology have published the results of a comprehensive study to determine the effectiveness of the Microculture Kinetic (MiCK) assay for apoptosis in predicting the best chemotherapy response for Endometrial Cancer patients. (Journal of Gynecologic Oncology March 2010 Mar)

The in vitro MiCK (Microculture Kinetic) apoptosis assay has been used to predict chemotherapy response in leukemia and ovarian patients. This feasibility study addressed the MiCK assay in endometrial cancer specimens. Using a panel of agents simulating clinical dose regimens, the MiCK assay was feasible in evaluating in vitro chemosensitivity of endometrial cancer and the results of the assay correlated well with Gynecological Oncology Group clinical trial results. In addition, the study showed that 25% of patients might be best treated with a single agent selected by the MiCK assay rather than a more expensive and more toxic combination chemotherapy regimen. Ifosfamide, cisplatin, and paclitaxel appeared to have the highest activity as single agents.

"This is significant information for endometrial cancer patients and clearly shows the MiCK assay is effective in guiding an oncologist toward the best chemotherapy treatment for their patients," said Dr Karen Ballard, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.

"Our studies continue to demonstrate that the MiCK assay works on all cancers. To be able to predict the best chemotherapy treatment for cancer patients has been a goal for oncologists for many years and we now have the data that proves this technology works. In addition, the test can guide a physician on choosing between single drug or combination treatments and whether to use less expensive generic drugs or newer proprietary drugs based on which drugs will give the patient the most effective response," said Dr Cary Presant, DiaTech Medical Director, and Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.

In the MiCK assay, the tumor cells of an individual patient are exposed to multiple doses of several chemotherapeutic drugs either as single drugs or in combinations. A sophisticated algorithm is used to monitor and compute the amounts of apoptosis caused by each of the drugs to establish a drug sensitivity profile of the patient's tumor cells. Knowledge of a patient's drug sensitivity profile allows the treating oncologists to prescribe chemotherapy that would be the most effective against the tumor cells of that patient.