A retrospective study of the correlation of in vitro chemosensitivity using ATP-TCA with patient clinical outcomes in acute myeloid leukemia

Purpose To evaluate the predictive value of the in vitro chemosensitivity using ATP-TCA method to compare the clinical efficacy of patients with AML. Methods Bone marrow or peripheral blood samples were collected from 65 patients with AML, and the in vitro chemosensitivity of four drugs (cytarabine/idarubicin/decitabine/aclacinomycin) was measured by an ATP-tumor chemosensitivity assay. Results Aclacinomycin and cytarabine had the highest chemosensitivity rates (66.7%, 8/12 and 58.5%, 38/65, respectively), while idarubicin and decitabine had rates of 6.5% (3/46) and 0% (0/35), respectively. Complete remission (CR) was achieved in 66.2% (43/65) of patients, and there was a statistically significant correlation between CR and in vitro chemosensitivity for cytarabine (47.7% vs 18.5%, p = 0.002), but not for the anthracyclines ( p = 0.950). In addition, three other factors significantly correlated with CR: disease status ( p = 0.005), FLT3-ITD/TKD mutation ( p = 0.003) and chemotherapy regimens ( p = 0.004). Furthermore, multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the sensitivity of cytarabine was one of the significant risk factors for CR [hazard ratio (HR) = 5.52; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.47–20.70; p = 0.011]. Conclusions The in vitro chemosensitivity as tested by ATP-TCA demonstrated a significant correlation with CR for chemotherapy and can be a useful tool to optimize personalized treatments for patients with AML.