Test Reduces Early Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Deaths

The first laboratory test ever shown in a clinical trial to improve one-year survival rates in cancer is now available to patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

In the test, the patients' own living cancer cells are exposed to a wide range of different chemotherapy drugs to learn which chemotherapy drug or drug combination most effectively kills each patient's malignant cells.

In a landmark 777 patient prospective, randomized clinical trial in CLL, patients receiving Differential Staining Cytotoxicity (DiSC) assay-directed chemotherapy achieved superior one year overall survival rates compared with patients whose treatments were chosen for them without benefit of personal cytometric profiling results. Chemotherapy is then personalized for each patient by focusing on effective drugs and avoiding ineffective drugs.

The assay is called SignatuRx (SignatureCLL; Huntington Beach, CA, USA). The scientists who developed the assay claim those CLL patients who relapsed after initial chemotherapy treatment were 2.5 times more likely to die within the first year following relapse if their chemotherapy drugs were selected without test guidance. SignatuRx personalized chemotherapy test can be ordered by physicians for their CLL patients from virtually anywhere in the world. Blood samples are sent to company’s California-based laboratory by overnight courier where the cancer cells are tested for susceptibility to treatment with up to 30 different chemotherapy drugs and drug combinations. Test reports are available in seven to 10 days.

Larry Weisenthal, MD, PhD, the Laboratory and Medical Director who conceived the assay, said, “This is a noteworthy break "one size fits all" chemotherapy, still used by most cancer physicians, in which drugs are chosen on some rational basis that does not involve directly testing candidate drugs in advance against each patient's own cancer cells. The problem with that approach is that many drugs are available for treatment of CLL but patient responses to the drugs are hit or miss. Some patients might be helped by one drug and other patients by another, but no drug ever helps all patients equally. Without testing, there is no way to know in advance which drugs are best for which patients.”

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