Applicability of histoculture drug response assays in colorectal cancer chemotherapy

Aim: The present study, using the histoculture drug response assay (HDRA) compared chemosensitivity with the clinical response of a treatment regime in patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC). Patients and Methods: A total of 324 patients with primary CRC were prospectively enrolled. HDRAs were performed using seven combinations of anticancer drugs, including 5-fluorouracil with leucovorin (FL), FL with oxaliplatin (FOLFOX), irinotecan (FOLFIRI), and their combinations with bevacizumab and cetuximab. Results: Among 324 HDRA results, tumor inhibition rates of regimes using FOLFOX (34.2-39.2%) were higher than those using FOLFIRI (24.2-32.7%, p<0.001). Out of 86 evaluated chemotherapeutic regimes, the correlation rate of HDRA to the clinical effect of chemotherapy was calculated to be 66.3% (57/86), with a 72.7% (40/55) sensitivity and a 54.7% (17/31) specificity. Conclusion: HDRA might be a feasible and useful technique for predicting therapy efficacy and selecting the appropriate anticancer regime for individual patients, notwithstanding its low accuracy.