INTERTUMORAL HOMOGENEITY DETERMINED BY MiCK ASSAY

Use of an assay to determine the efficacy of at least one drug candidate or combination of drug candidates against a primary tumor, the method comprising:

• a. plating in at least one well of a plate suitable to be read by a spectrophotometer a single-cell suspension of viable cancer cells obtained from at least one metastatic tumor of said primary tumor of an individual patient, wherein the cancer cells are in a concentration sufficient to form a monolayer of cells on the bottom of the well,
• b. adding at least one drug candidate or combination of drug candidates to the well in an amount sufficient to achieve a target concentration,
• c. measuring the optical density of the well at a wavelength of approximately 600 nm at selected time intervals for a selected duration of time,
• d. determining a kinetic units (KU) value from the optical density and time measurements, and
• e. correlating the KU value with an ability of the at least one drug candidate or combination of drug candidates to induce apoptosis in the primary tumor if the KU value is positive, or an inability of the at least one drug candidate or combination of drug candidates to induce apoptosis in the primary tumor if the KU value is not positive.

Use of an assay to determine the efficacy of at least one drug candidate or combination of drug candidates against a metastatic tumor, the method comprising:

• a. plating in at least one well of a plate suitable to be read by a spectrophotometer a single-cell suspension of viable cancer cells obtained from the primary tumor of the metastatic tumor of an individual patient, wherein the cancer cells are in a concentration sufficient to form a monolayer of cells on the bottom of the well,
• b. adding at least one drug candidate or combination of drug candidates to the well in an amount sufficient to achieve a target concentration,
• c. measuring the optical density of the well at a wavelength of approximately 600 nm at selected time intervals for a selected duration of time,
• d. determining a kinetic units (KU) value from the optical density and time measurements, and
• e. correlating the KU value with an ability of the at least one drug candidate or combination of drug candidates to induce apoptosis in the metastatic tumor if the KU value is positive, or an inability of the at least one drug candidate or combination of drug candidates to induce apoptosis in the metastatic tumor if the KU value is not positive.