Efficacy of the Oral Fluorouracil Pro-drug Capecitabine in Cancer Treatment: a Review

Molecules

Georgios V. Koukourakis⁴  Vassilios Kouloulias⁴  Michael J. Koukourakis²  Georgios A. Zacharias¹  Haralabos Zabatis³ 

[1] Policlinic of Athens, Section of Pathology, Athens Greece.University Hospital of Thrace, Radiation Therapy Unit, Alexandroupolis, Greece;Saint Savvas Anticancer Institute of Athens, 1^st Radiation Therapy Unit Athens Greece;Attikon University Hospital of Athens, 2^nd Radiology Department, Radiation Therapy Unit, Medical School of Athens, Greece;

关键词: Capecitabine;    Xeloda;    cancer treatment;   

DOI  :  10.3390/molecules13081897

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Capecitabine (Xeloda®) was developed as a pro-drug of fluorouracil (FU), with the aim of improving tolerability and intratumor drug concentrations through its tumor-specific conversion to the active drug. The purpose of this paper is to review the available information on capecitabine, focusing on its clinical effectiveness against various carcinomas. Identification of all eligible English trails was made by searching the PubMed and Cochrane databases from 1980 to 2007. Search terms included capecitabine, Xeloda and cancer treatment. Nowadays, FDA has approved the use of capecitabine as a first line therapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer when single-agent fluoropyrimidine is preferred. The drug is also approved for use as a single agent in metastatic breast cancer patients who are resistant to both anthracycline and paclitaxel-based regimens or when further anthracycline treatment is contraindicated. It is also approved in combination with docetaxel after failure of prior anthracycline-based chemotherapy. In patients with prostate, pancreatic, renal cell and ovarian carcinomas, capecitabine as a single-agent or in combination with other drugs has also shown benefits. Improved tolerability and comparable efficacy, compared with the intravenous FU/LV combination, in addition to its oral administration, make capecitabine an attractive option for the treatment of several types of carcinomas.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2008 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.