title: Effects on the immune system and toxicity of carboplatin/paclitaxel combination chemotherapy in patients with stage III-IV ovarian and non small cell lung cancer and its role in survival and toxicity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the impact of paclitaxel and carboplatin combination chemotherapy on the parameters of the immune system in patients with non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and with ovarian cancer before, during and after chemotherapy, and the effect of this combination on the overall patient survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  24 patients with NSCLC and 20 with ovarian cancer (all in stage IIIb-IV) treated with 6 courses of paclitaxel and carboplatin combination chemotherapy were separated into two groups according to their survival group A: long survival (> 12 months for NSCLC; > 30 months for ovarian cancer) group B: short survival (<12 months for NSCLC; <30 months for ovarian cancer). At the same time we studied some immunological parameters (CD3, CD4, CD8, CD56, CD34, IL-3, IFN-γ) in relation with the induced toxicity during chemotherapy. The results were analysed using the ANOVA method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed a statistically significant difference of CD4 and CD4/CD8 after chemotherapy between groups A and B (p<0.001 and p< 0.006 respectively), implying that the further increase of T-helper cells after chemotherapy had a positive impact on survival. In addition, statistically interesting was the difference in values of IFN-γ between patients of groups A and B before and after chemotherapy (p< 0.039 and p< 0.027, respectively). Patients with high IL-3 had little chance of toxicity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings support that with carboplatin/ paclitaxel combination chemotherapy, important parameters of the immune system (IFN-γ, CD4, CD4/CD8) can be used as prognostic factors for survival, while others (IL-3) as indicators of toxicity.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, University of Patras, Greece. khatziveis@gmail.com
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hatziveis
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tourlakis
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hountis
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kyriazanos
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sougleri
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ginopoulos
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Camoutsis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016190:Carboplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000187:drug effects*; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood; D007377:Interleukin-3 / Q000097:blood; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D007377:Interleukin-3; D007371:Interferon-gamma; D016190:Carboplatin; D017239:Paclitaxel