title: Immunohistochemical expression of thymidylate synthase as predictor of response to capecitabine in patients with advanced colorectal adenocarcinoma.
abstract: Capecitabine is an oral prodrug to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). The primary target of 5-FU is thymidylate synthase (TS). A mainstay of colorectal adenocarcinoma chemotherapy is inhibition of TS, which may be one of many determinant factors when predicting the outcome of chemotherapies based on fluoropyrimidine treatment. This retrospective study included 39 patients with advanced colorectal adenocarcinoma treated with capecitabine. Response was assessed by measuring the amount of tumour in the course of treatment. TS expression was evaluated by scoring the immunohistochemical (IHC) reaction and assessing the predominant IHC reaction pattern. This study showed significant correlation between the predominant IHC reaction pattern and response, but no correlation between IHC score and response. The predominant IHC reaction pattern may be a useful parameter in prediction of clinical outcome in patients treated with capecitabine.
authors.affiliation: Danish Colorectal Cancer Group South, Vejle Hospital, Vejle, Denmark. janlin@vs.vejleamt.dk
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lindebjerg
authors.forename: J Nederby
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: L Damkier
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Hoeffding
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jakobsen
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000201:enzymology*; D000069287:Capecitabine; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology*; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D013940:Thymidylate Synthase / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D003841:Deoxycytidine; D000069287:Capecitabine; D013940:Thymidylate Synthase; D005472:Fluorouracil