In vitro drug‐induced cytotoxicity predicts clinical response to fludarabine in B‐cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

• Published in: British journal of haematology 1998-07, Vol.102 (2), p.528-531
• Main Authors: Morabito, Fortunato, Stelitano, Caterina, Callea, Ida, Dattola, Antonella, Console, Giuseppe, Pucci, Giulia, Iacopino, Pasquale, Callea, Vincenzo, DI Raimondo, Francesco, Brugiatelli, Maura
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Antineoplastic agents; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Chemotherapy; CLL; cytotoxicity; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; Female; fludarabine; Hematology; Humans; Lethal Dose 50; Lymphoma, B-Cell - drug therapy; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; MTT assay; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; response; Vidarabine - analogs & derivatives; Vidarabine - therapeutic use
• ISSN: 0007-1048; 1365-2141
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2141.1998.00813.x

We investigated the possible value of an in vitro drug‐induced cytotoxicity assay in predicting clinical response to fludarabine (FAMP) in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). The median FAMP‐LD50 values for cases designated as complete response (CR), partial response (PR), no response (NR) and progressive disease (PD) were 1.43, 2.05, 24.8 and 77.9 μg/ml, respectively (P=0.013). A significant lower mean FAMP‐LD50 value was observed in the in vivo responding cases as compared to non‐responding ones (3.0 ± 0.82 SEM v 42.3 ± 12.6 SEM, P=0.001). Only FAMP‐LD50  2.5 μg/ml and more than four FAMP courses significantly influenced the response rate in univariate and multivariate analyses. The MTT assay may be of value in predicting clinical response to FAMP in CLL patients.