Development of the Histoculture Drug Response Assay (HDRA).

The histoculture drug response assay (HDRA) was developed using Gelfoam® histoculture of all tumor types. Twenty tumor classes, including all the major ones, have been histocultured on Gelfoam® and tested for drug response. Quantitative and qualitative results show increasing cell kill with rising cytotoxic drug concentration, differential drug sensitivities of multiple cell types within individual cultured tumors, differential sensitivities to a single drug of a series of tumors of the same histopathological classification, differential sensitivities of individual tumors to a series of drugs, and sensitivity patterns of various tumor types similar to the sensitivities found in vivo. Therefore, the results indicated that precise therapeutic data can be obtained from tumor specimens growing in Gelfoam® histoculture in vitro for the individual cancer patient as well as for rational and relevant screening for novel agents active against human solid tumors.