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Background: Capecitabine is widely used to treat patients with gastrointestinal and breast cancers. However, its narrow therapeutic index is a limitation and prevents the achievement of a good therapeutic response. Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) is the main enzyme in the metabolism of capecitabine. Previous studies show that deficiency in the activity of this enzyme can lead to incomplete metabolism of fluoroprimidine derivatives and severe complications. However, in the case of capecitabine, limited information based on case reports and small population surveys are available. There is also scarce evidence of a relationship between serum concentrations of DPD and the prevalence of capecitabine adverse reactions. Objectives: The current study aimed at investigating the relationship between DPD serum concentrations and capecitabine adverse reactions in patients with gastrointestinal tract cancer receiving capecitabine. Methods: The current cohort study was conducted on 30 patients referred to Isar Clinic affiliated to Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran, diagnosed with gastric or colorectal cancer; treatment with capecitabine-containing regimens including XELOX (capecitabine + oxaliplatin) Or EOX (epirubicin + oxaliplatin + capecitabine) was performed from November 2016 to July 2017. At the beginning of the study, the patients' demographic and laboratory data and information about the type of malignancy and chemotherapy regimen were recorded. Then, on the day before the first chemotherapy course administration until the end of the third cycle of chemotherapy, the side effects of the drug were investigated by interview, clinical examination, and laboratory findings. The occurrence of adverse reactions was assessed based on NCI-CTCAE V4 criteria. The serum concentration of DPD enzyme was measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit and its relationship with incidence of capecitabine induced side effects was evaluated. Results: A significant relationship was observed between DPD serum concentration and neuropathy (P < 0.001), thrombocytopenia (P = 0.017), neutropenia (P = 0.004), and weakness (P = 0.014). However, there was no significant relationship between DPD and other complications. No significant relationship was observed between age and gender of patients and DPD concentration (P > 0.05). Conclusions: According to the data obtained from the current study, the incidence of some of the capectiabine induced complications can be influenced by the serum concentration of DPD.

Background: One of the current challenges in cancer management is finding diagnostic and prognostic markers for various cancers. CXCL10 is a small protein that is defined as an ‘inflammatory’ chemokine and binds to CXCR3 to mediate immune responses through the activation and recruitment of leukocytes such as T cells, eosinophils, monocytes and natural killer cells. It facilitates the immune system antitumor activity, and causes tumor regression through induction of angiostasis and cellular apoptosis. Most previous studies have reported the anti-tumor activity of CXCR10, while studies on its role in colorectal cancer are limited. Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate the correlation of serum CXCL10 level with the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer. Methods: This retrospective cohort study was performed on 69 patients with a histopathological diagnosis of colorectal cancer in the oncology ward of Razavi Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, between July 2018 and September 2019. The relationship between the serum CXCL10 concentration and colorectal cancer prognosis was investigated. Results: The results of Cox regression analysis indicated a significant relationship between the patients’ mortality and metastasis rate and a high concentration of CXCL10 (P = 0.018 and P = 0.045, respectively); however, a high concentration of CXCL10 was not significantly correlated with the recurrence rate (P = 0.81) during the four-year follow-up. Conclusions: The level of CXCL10 was significantly associated with incidence of mortality and metastasis in colorectal cancer patients during a four-year follow-up.

The aim of this study was the evaluation of S100B prognostic role in nonmetastatic breast cancer patients, excluding confounding factors. Patients & method: 79 breast cancer patients, who fulfilled inclusion and exclusion criteria, were enrolled in the study. Before any adjuvant chemotherapy or surgery, the serum level of S100B was determined. All patients were followed up for 5 years, particularly regarding cancer recurrence and patients' survival. Results: 42% of the patients experienced no recurrence after 5 years and cumulative risk of recurrence was 0.86. There was no significant correlation between serum level of protein S100B and recurrence rate in 5 years (p = 0.59). Conclusion: According to the results, the serum levels of S100B protein may have no prognostic role in nonmetastatic breast cancer.