TY - JOUR T1 - Low Dihydropyrimidine Dehydrogenase Correlates with Prolonged Survival in Patients with Lung Adenocarcinoma Treated with 5-Fluorouracil JF - Anticancer Research JO - Anticancer Res SP - 4665 LP - 4671 VL - 31 IS - 12 AU - YASUSHI SHINTANI AU - MASAYOSHI INOUE AU - YASUNOBU FUNAKOSHI AU - AKIHIDE MATSUMURA AU - MITSUNORI OHTA AU - HAJIME MAEDA AU - MEINOSHIN OKUMURA Y1 - 2011/12/01 UR - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/31/12/4665.abstract N2 - Background: The enzyme dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) is involved in the metabolism of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). The aim of this study was to clarify the correlation between the expression of DPD and the efficacy of 5-FU therapy in patients with lung adenocarcinoma (AD). Patients and Methods: We examined surgically resected specimens from 90 stage I to IIIA patients with lung ADs to determine the level of intra-tumoral DPD mRNA. Results: Administration of 5-FU improved the prognosis of patients with low DPD-expressing tumors, whereas it did not do so for patients with high DPD expressing tumors. Patients with low DPD-expressing tumors administered with 5-FU had a significantly better prognosis than those who underwent surgery alone. A Cox proportional hazards regression model revealed that administration of 5-FU was an independent variable to predict prognosis in patients with low DPD-expressing tumors. Conclusion: Quantification of DPD mRNA levels is useful for determining the subgroup of lung AD patients who would benefit most from 5-FU after surgery. ER -