title: A phase II study of oral eniluracil/fluorouracil in patients with anthracycline-refractory or anthracycline- and taxane-refractory advanced breast cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Eniluracil is an effective inactivator of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase, the initial and rate limiting enzyme in the catabolism of fluorouracil. The current study was done to determine the objective tumour response of a 28-day oral regimen of eniluracil-fluorouracil in patients with advanced breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a multicentre, phase II study in patients with anthracycline-refractory (AR) or anthracycline- and taxane-refractory (ATR) advanced breast cancer. Oral eniluracil (10 mg/m2) and fluorouracil (1 mg/m2) were taken twice daily for 28 days of each 35-day treatment course.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this study, 106 patients received treatment: 62 patients in the AR stratum and 44 patients in the ATR stratum. The objective tumour response rate in the intent-to-treat population was 18% (95% confidence intervals (CI): 11%-27%), including three complete responses. The response rate was similar in both strata: 19% in the AR and 16% in the ATR stratum. The overall median duration of response was 23.6 weeks. The treatment was well tolerated with a low incidence of grade 3 or 4 toxicities that were considered attributable to study medication.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Treatment with oral eniluracil-fluorouracil was well tolerated by patients with advanced breast cancer. The efficacy data were comparable with those of other published studies in this group of refractory patients.
authors.affiliation: Herlev Amtssygehus, Denmark.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Skovsgaard
authors.forename: N G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Piccart
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Richel
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bonneterre
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Cirkel
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Barton
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / Q000494:pharmacology; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D001952:Bridged-Ring Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D043823:Taxoids; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014498:Uracil / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*
chemical_list: D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; D001952:Bridged-Ring Compounds; D043823:Taxoids; C080625:taxane; C073482:eniluracil; D014498:Uracil; D005472:Fluorouracil