Functional profiling to select chemotherapy in untreated, advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

Background/aim: To assess the impact of drug selection upon the treatment of advanced and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), we applied a functional platform that measures drug-induced cell death in human tumor primary-culture micro-spheroids isolated from surgical specimens.

Patients And Methods: At diagnosis, microspheroids isolated by mechanical and enzymatic disaggregation were examined for drug-induced cell-death by morphology and staining characteristics. Drugs were administered using standard protocols.