The identification of
patients that will or will not respond to a specific chemotherapy or targeted
therapy has the potential to assist in the treatment and management of
childhood and adult cancer patients. In vitro laboratory-based assays for
determining the sensitivity of patient-derived cells to specific anticancer
agents would provide a means of optimising the chemotherapeutic regimen for a
specific patient and potentially improve response rates. As part of a larger Precision
Medicine Program being developed by Children’s Cancer Institute, the ACRF Drug
Discovery Centre for Childhood Cancer is implementing in vitro drug
sensitivity testing assays, using high content imaging, to assess the
sensitivity or resistance of childhood cancer patient cells to a range of
chemotherapeutic and targeted drugs. In this presentation, we review the in
vitro drug sensitivity testing platform and discuss the potential of this
platform for rapidly finding the right treatment for the right patient,
especially for high risk patients that will not respond to current
standard-of-care and those patients that undergo relapse and require new
treatment plans.