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Evaluation of plasma 5-fluorouracil nucleoside levels in patients with metastatic breast cancer: relationships with toxicities

  • Original Article
  • 5-Fluorouracil, Anabolites, 5-Fluorouridine, 5-Fluoro-2′-Deoxyuridine, Sreast Cancer, Toxic Side Effects
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Abstract

This paper describes the relationship between 5-fluorouracil (FUra)-derived toxicities and plasma levels of the FUra anabolites 5-fluorouridine (FUrd) and 5-fluoro-2′-deoxyuridine (FdUrd) monitored in patients receiving continuous infusions of FUra (1000 mg/m2 per 24 h) over 5 days preceded by the administration of cisplatin (100 mg/m2). A total of 63 courses of this treatment were given as second-line chemotherapy to 17 patients with metastatic breast cancer. The active FUra anabolites FUrd and FdUrd were monitored twice daily in the plasma by highperformance liquid chromatography. Data were analyzed using multiple analysis of variance (ANOVA). Only a low proportion of patients exhibited measurable plasmatic levels of FUrd (43%) and FdUrd (70%). The areas under the plasma concentration-time curves (AUC) determined over 120 h for FUrd (AUCFUrd) and for FdUrd (AUCFdUrd) were found to be statistically significantly different for chemotherapy cycles with and those without myelosuppression. Chemotherapy cycles without neutropenia were associated with low AUCFUrd values (mean±SEM, 2.9±0.7 μg ml−1 h) and high AUCFdUrd values (14.1±2.7 μg ml−1 h), respectively, whereas courses with myelosuppression (WHO grades 2–4) showed inverse profiles with high AUCFUrd values (16.3±2.3 μg ml−1 h) and low AUCFdUrd values (3.1±1.0 μg ml−1 h), respectively. A statistically significant difference in AUCFdUrd values was also observed between cycles with and those without mucositis (P=0.0027), with AUCFdUrd values being 22.6±5.6 and 7.8±1.9 μg ml−1 h, respectively. Whereas hematotoxicity could be correlated with both AUCFUrd and AUCFdUrd values, mucositis was associated with high AUCFdUrd levels. Moreover, a negative correlation was found between the AUCs determined for FUrd and FdUrd (P=0.002), indicating that activation of FUra via FUrd or via FdUrd may involve competitive processes. Therefore, to follow the development of the major FUra-derived toxicities, measurement of FUrd and FdUrd plasma levels appeared very attractive.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Recherche en Oncologie, Centre Alexis Vautrin, Avenue de Bourgogne, Brabois, F-54511, Vandœuvre-Les-Nancy Cedex, France

    M. Barberi-Heyob, B. Weber, J. L. Merlin, E. Luporsi & F. Guillemin

  2. Department of Internal Medicine I, Division of Oncology, University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria

    C. Dittrich

  3. Laboratory of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, Antwerp University, Universiteitsplein 1 (S-4), B-2610, Wilrijk, Belgium

    E. A. de Bruijn

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Barberi-Heyob, M., Weber, B., Merlin, J.L. et al. Evaluation of plasma 5-fluorouracil nucleoside levels in patients with metastatic breast cancer: relationships with toxicities. Cancer Chemother. Pharmacol. 37, 110–116 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00685637

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00685637

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