Poster Presentation Lowy Cancer Symposium 2015

TESTING HIGH RISK CHILDHOOD CANCER PATIENT CELLS IN VITRO FOR POTENTIAL NEW DRUG TREATMENTS (#101)

Greg M Arndt 1 , Tim W Failes 1 , Anna Mariana 1 , Carol Wadham 2 , Lisa Morgan 1 , Toby Trahair 2 , Karen Mackenzie 2 , Murray Norris 1 , Michelle Haber 1
  1. ACRF Drug Discovery Centre, Children's Cancer Institute Australia, Randwick, NSW, Australia
  2. Children's Cancer Institute Australia, Randwick, NSW, Australia

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 (DDC) 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.