Variability in the anti-tumor effect of tegafur-uracil depending on histologic types of lung cancer.
BACKGROUND
Tegafur-uracil (UFT) is an anticancer agent that inhibits thymidylate synthase (TS). The degree of TS expression in primary lung cancer (LC) is different according to histologic cell type. In this study, we examined the variability of the anti-tumor efficacy of UFT monotherapy depending on histological subtypes of LC.


METHODS
In the current single-institution, retrospective study, we assigned the patients with LC to three histologic groups [the squamous (Sq) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)] group, the non-Sq NSCLC group and the SCLC group] and then compared the clinical response to UFT monotherapy between the three groups.


RESULTS
Our clinical series of 149 patients include 54 cases of Sq NSCLC, 67 cases of non-Sq NSCLC and 28 cases of SCLC. For Sq NSCLC, non-Sq NSCLC and SCLC group, the overall response rates (ORRs) were 1%, 1% and 0% (P=0.522), respectively. The disease control rates (DCRs) were 38.9%, 31.3% and 10.7% (P=0.012), respectively. The median progression-free survivals (PFSs) were 2.68, 2.25 and 1.46 months (P=0.004 for three groups and P=0.773 for two groups except for the SCLC group at the log-rank test), respectively. There was no significant difference between the groups in median overall survival (OS).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that the degree of the anti-tumor effect of UFT was higher in patients with NSCLC as compared with SCLC. But it showed no significant difference between the patients with Sq NSCLC and those with non-Sq NSCLC.
Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Bo-Ram
BR
Lee
Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Jin-Yeong
JY
Yu
Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Seong-Hoon
SH
Yoon
Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Hee-Jung
HJ
Ban
Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Yong-Soo
YS
Kwon
Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
In-Jae
IJ
Oh
Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Kyu-Sik
KS
Kim
Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Yu-Il
YI
Kim
Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Sung-Chul
SC
Lim
Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Young-Chul
YC
Kim
5-fluorouracil (5-FU); lung cancer (LC); tegafur-uracil (UFT); thymidylate synthase (TS)