Use of optophoresis as an in vitro predictor of cell response to chemotherapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia

B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia [CLL] is characterized by active accumulation of clonal CD5+/CD19+/CD23+ B cells. Individualized characterization of patient cell resistance/sensitivity to specific agents can provide important information to guide therapy selection. We have utilized optophoresis, which is a technique for the analysis of the motion of cells within a moving optical gradient field. It detects the broad cellular changes associated with apoptosis based on physical characteristics of the cell, such as morphology, size, refractive index, density, and surface properties.We analyzed peripheral blood samples from 62 CLL patients in the presence of varying concentrations of chemotherapeutic agents. Optophoresis and a more conventional measurement of cell death were utilized. The outcome of ex vivo drug resistance using optophoresis was compared to clinical response in 30 patients for which there was clinical outcome data available.The overall accuracy of optophoresis in reflecting clinical respon...