20110183317 | DETERMINING THE SENSITIVITY OF A CELL TO A DRUG - The present invention provides an in vitro method for determining the resistance or sensitivity of a cell line or patient sample to a deoxyribonucleoside kinase-dependent drug, wherein the method comprises the steps of: (i) treating a patient sample or cell line, or a portion thereof, with a deoxyribonucleoside kinase-dependent drug; (ii) lysing the cells of the patient sample or cell line from step (i); (iii) optionally, mixing a portion of the cell lysate from step (ii) with a bioluminescent reporter bacteria incorporating a gene coding for deoxyribonucleoside kinase; (iv) mixing a portion of the cell lysate from (ii) with a bioluminescent reporter bacteria incorporating a gene coding for a deoxyribonucleoside kinase and a deoxyribonucleoside kinase transcription promoter; (v) mixing a portion of the cell lysate from step (ii) with a bioluminescent reporter bacteria incorporating a gene coding for a deoxyribonucleoside kinase, a deoxyribonucleoside kinase transcription promoter and a dephosphorylating agent; and (vi) measuring the bioluminescence of each of the mixtures from steps (iii) to (v), wherein the comparative levels of bioluminescence of each of the mixtures provides a measure of the resistance or sensitivity to the drug. | 07-28-2011 |