INTERTUMORAL HOMOGENEITY DETERMINED BY MiCK ASSAY

The use of genomic tests shows variability between the primary tumor and the metastases in most circumstances referred to as tumor heterogeneity. Since it is unduly invasive and difficult to obtain samples from the primary and metastatic tumors within a patient, a need exists for a method of testing chemotherapeutic effectiveness in a patient that is applicable to both primary tumor and metastases. Provided are methods of using the MiCK assay to determine the most effective drug candidate(s) for an individual patient by testing a single tumor site. In a further embodiment, the kinetic unit (KU) value obtained by analysis of cancer cells from a tumor site in an individual patient in the presence of a drug candidate is within two standard deviations of the KU value obtained by analysis of a different tumor site in the patient in the presence of the same drug candidate.