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Thymidylate synthase and thymidine phosphorylase as predictive markers of capecitabine monotherapy in patients with anthracycline- and taxane-pretreated metastatic breast cancer

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Abstract

Purpose

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of thymidylate synthase (TS) and thymidine phosphorylase (TP) as biomarkers to predict clinical outcomes of capecitabine monotherapy in patients with anthracycline- and taxane-pretreated metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

Methods

Of the patients who were previously treated with anthracycline and taxane regimens, 90 patients who had available tissue block for immunohistochemistry with measurable lesions were included. All patients received capecitabine (2,500 mg/m2/day) for 14 days every 3 weeks.

Results

High TS expression was more common among patients with triple-negative (TN) subtype than among patients with other subtypes (33% for hormone receptor+, 8% for HER2+, and 58% for TN, P = 0.023). The median PFS was significantly lower in patients with high TS (6.6 vs. 3.0 months; P = 0.017) and low TP expressions (6.0 vs. 3.3 months; P = 0.013). A high TS and a low TP expressions were identified as unfavorable independent risk factors for PFS to capecitabine monotherapy in multivariate analysis (hazard ratio [HR], 1.7, P = 0.037 for high TS score; HR, 1.8, P = 0.014 for low TP score).

Conclusions

Our data suggest that high TS and low TP scores correlate with a shorter PFS for capecitabine monotherapy in patients with anthracycline- and taxane-pretreated MBC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Irwon-dong Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 135-710, Korea

    Su Jin Lee, Yeon Hee Park, Seung Tae Kim, Jin Seok Ahn & Young-Hyuck Im

  2. Department of Pathology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

    Yoon La Choi & Eun Yoon Cho

Authors
  1. Su Jin Lee
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  2. Yoon La Choi
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  3. Yeon Hee Park
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  4. Seung Tae Kim
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  7. Young-Hyuck Im
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Correspondence to Young-Hyuck Im.

Additional information

Su Jin Lee and Yoon La Choi are equally contributed to this work.

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Lee, S.J., Choi, Y.L., Park, Y.H. et al. Thymidylate synthase and thymidine phosphorylase as predictive markers of capecitabine monotherapy in patients with anthracycline- and taxane-pretreated metastatic breast cancer. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 68, 743–751 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-010-1545-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-010-1545-0

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