Screening of compounds

A method for controlling the metabolic pathways used by cells during in vitro testing comprising:

• identifying a cancer cell type to be treated;
• identifying an organ from which the cancer cells were obtained, the organ having an in vivo environment which includes amino acids, vitamins and inorganic salts in various concentrations;
• determining the amino acids, vitamins and inorganic salts and concentrations of the amino acids, vitamins and inorganic salts in the in vivo environment of the organ from which the cancer cells were obtained;
• culturing cells of the identified cancer cell type in a patient specific cell support media formulated such that the patient specific support media corresponds to the in vivo environment of an organ within the patient that corresponds to the cancer cell type;
• screening at least one compound of interest to ensure that the compound does not inhibit a luciferase enzyme;
• upon confirmation that the at least one compound of interest does not inhibit the luciferase enzyme, treating the cells of the identified cancer cell type with the at least one compound of interest over a period of time that is less than two hours;
• and,
• after treating the cells of the identified cancer cell type, monitoring the ATP level of the cells of the identified cancer cell type to determine cytotoxicity of the at least one compound of interest towards the cells of the identified cancer cell type.

A method for assessing the in vitro effectiveness of a compound against a specific cancer type comprising:

• obtaining cancer cells from an organ within a patient;
• identifying an organ from which the cancer cells were obtained, the organ having an in vivo environment which includes amino acids, vitamins and inorganic salts in various concentrations;
• determining the amino acids, vitamins and inorganic salts and concentrations of the amino acids, vitamins and inorganic salts in the in vivo environment of the organ from which the cancer cells were obtained;
• preparing individualized cancer cell support media formulated to correspond to the in vivo environment within the organ within the patient from which the cancer cells were obtained;
• incubating the cancer cells in the individualized cancer cell support media under conditions which will promote cancer cell growth using metabolic pathways corresponding to cancer cell growth in the patient wherein the cancer cells in the individualized cancer cell support media are maintained at a temperature between about 35° C. and 39° C. under an atmosphere containing carbon dioxide;
• treating the cancer cells with at least one compound of interest for a period of about 30 minutes to four hours;
• measuring a change in ATP levels of the cancer cells;
• and,
• determining an IC50 value for the compound of interest thereby assessing the in vitro effectiveness of a compound against a specific cancer type.

A method for assessing the in vitro effectiveness of a compound against a specific cancer type comprising:

• obtaining cancer cells from an organ within a patient;
• identifying the organ from which the cancer cells were obtained, the organ having an in vivo environment;
• preparing individualized cancer cell support media formulated to correspond to the in vivo environment within the organ within the patient from which the cancer cells were obtained;
• maintaining the cancer cells in the individualized cancer cell support media at a temperature between about 35° C. and 39° C. under an atmosphere containing carbon dioxide;
• treating the cancer cells with at least one compound of interest;
• measuring a change in ATP levels of the cancer cells;
• and,
• determining an IC50 value for the compound of interest thereby assessing the in vitro effectiveness of a compound against a specific cancer type.