Chemosensitivity and its Role for the Efficacy of Cancer Therapy

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Chemotherapies are the centerpiece of many cancer therapies. For patients, receiving chemotherapy is associated with great hopes, but also great physical and emotional strain. This is also because chemotherapy is not always as effective as it should be in every case of cancer. Chemosensitivity testing aims to detect these resistances of cancer cells before the start of treatment, thereby helping to prevent ineffective chemotherapies.

Cancer develops when cells divide too fast and their divisions are out of control. Because of this, drugs which target and kill fast-dividing cells – the chemotherapeutics – are a staple in cancer therapy. Today, physicians can choose from a wide range of potent chemotherapeutics with different mechanisms of action when planning a chemotherapy. Choosing from these the best medication for treatment of an individual case of cancer can be a challenge. This is because therapy efficacy is not only influenced by the type of tumor, but also by individual features of the patient.

Current guidelines for cancer therapy aim to group cancer patients based on origin tissue and cancer stage. Each of these groups is then treated – according to previous experience – with the cancer therapy they are most likely to benefit from. Chemotherapeutics are – depending on type of cancer to be treated – often used in standardized combinations, to increase efficacy and decrease adverse drug reactions.

Yet, chemotherapy according to the guidelines is not equally effective in each case. Cancer is a disease which is influenced by individual factors. Also in tumors of similar origin, the susceptibility of cancer cells to a chemotherapeutic (chemosensitivity) may differ between patients. Chemosensitivity is a feature of cancer cells that describes the strength of the tumor's reaction to a given anti-cancer-drug. It describes whether a tumor reacts to this chemical, e. g. how strongly its growth is inhibited and / or if its cells are killed as a result of treatment. Therefore, chemosensitivity in cancer is a prerequisite for the efficacy of chemotherapy.

Chemoresistence is the opposite of chemosensitivity. Similar to antibiotic resistant bacteria, a chemoresistant tumor can continue to grow even in the presence of a chemotherapeutic it is resistant to. Accordingly, using this drug for chemotherapy would not be a promising approach. Fortunately, it is rare for cancers to be resistant to all medication that could be used to treat them. So, viable alternatives can be found if the chemoresistance is known in advance. With this, we would like to help you.

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