ABSTRACT
Individualized tumor response testing (ITRT) has a long history, with a number of different technologies and many different tumor types tested. A major international clinical trial on ITRT in chronic lymphocytic leukemia is ongoing. The first randomization has closed and comparisons of ITRT by Tumor Response to Antineoplastic Compounds (TRAC) assay and patient response have been published. The TRAC assay was described as a streamlined version of the DiSC assay. The first publications of clinical correlations with the DiSC assay, in 1983 and 1984, included studies of the activity of glucocorticoids and standard cytotoxic agents, which were correlated with prior therapy and with clinical outcome in acute lymphoblastic leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The body of literature supporting cell death assays in lymphatic neoplasms dates to studies in CLL published by Schrek in the 1960s.
