Clinical application of subrenal capsule assay in ovarian cancer

The 6-day subrenal capsule assay (SRC) in normal immuno-competent mice was used to test the responsiveness of ovarian cancer to combination chemotherapy and assess the usefulness of SRC in clinical application. A total of 18 different patients in 22 different assays were studied. Twenty-one assays (95%) were evaluable. The predictive sensitivity was 50%, the predictive resistance 75% and the predictive total accuracy 55% respectively. Sensitive drugs in repeated assays in four patients were not changed. Etoposide, cyclophosphamide, cis-platin and adriamycin were sensitive. Etoposide was the most sensitive of four drugs. The response rate was 50% in the patients treated with etoposide as the first line chemotherapy and the second line chemotherapy, respectively. Patients who were treated with sensitive drugs in SRC survived longer than the patients treated with cis-platin combined chemotherapy without etoposide. The median survival time was 19 months and the mean progression free interval was 15 months. In the results of this study, the value of SRC was supported by the results of chemosensitivity tests and etoposide seems useful in chemotherapy in ovarian cancer.