Now under the direction of Steve Weitman, MD, PhD, Director of Translational Research, the laboratory performs chemosensitivity testing using the Human Tumor Cloning Assay. The test plates are incubated for 14 days, at which time growth is examined under a microscope. The results are tabulated and a computer-generated report is sent to the patient's doctor, who evaluates the results to determine what effect the drugs have on the patient's tumor cells. This test has been performed on over 26,000 patients' tumors at no charge to the patient. The number of chemotherapeutics that can be tested varies depending on the number of cells available from a particular specimen.
Every effort is made to test all of the drugs requested by the physician.
This chemosensitivity testing can be a valuable resource to help determine an effective course of treatment, and the drugs that are not effective can also provide valuable information. Seventy percent of drugs that respond in the cloning assay have been shown to be responsive in the patient. Thus, a doctor can avoid trying a drug that might have unpleasant side effects and will be of little value to the treatment process. Likewise, the stem cell assay might identify drugs that might otherwise not be considered for therapeutic trial. Under the direction of Dr. Weitman, The Translational Research Department has developed a pediatric cancer program.