PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - ROBERT A. NAGOURNEY AU - JONATHAN B. BLITZER AU - ROBERT L. SHUMAN AU - THOMAS J. ASCIUTO AU - EKNATH A. DEO AU - MARYLYN PAULSEN AU - ROBERT L. NEWCOMB AU - STEVE S. EVANS TI - Functional Profiling to Select Chemotherapy in Untreated, Advanced or Metastatic Non-small Cell Lung Cancer DP - 2012 Oct 01 TA - Anticancer Research PG - 4453--4460 VI - 32 IP - 10 4099 - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/32/10/4453.short 4100 - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/32/10/4453.full SO - Anticancer Res2012 Oct 01; 32 AB - Background/Aim: To assess the impact of drug selection upon the treatment of advanced and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), we applied a functional platform that measures drug-induced cell death in human tumor primary-culture micro-spheroids isolated from surgical specimens. Patients and Methods: At diagnosis, microspheroids isolated by mechanical and enzymatic disaggregation were examined for drug-induced cell-death by morphology and staining characteristics. Drugs were administered using standard protocols. Thirty-one patients, who received at least one cycle of therapy, were evaluable. All patients signed informed consent. Results: Twenty out of 31 patients responded (64.5%), 1 completely and 19 partially, providing a two-fold improvement over historical control of 30% (p=0.00015), a median time-to-progression of 8.5 months and a median overall survival of 21.3 months. Conclusion: This functional platform is feasible and provides a favorable objective response rate, time-to-progression and survival in advanced, metastatic, untreated NSCLC, and warrants further evaluation.