EFFECT OF LOW-DOSE CYCLOPHOSPHAMIDE ON THE SYNTHESIS OF ACUTE-PHASE PROTEIN AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR CANCER-CHEMOTHERAPY

Patients with far advanced colorectal cancers received chemotherapy co nsisting of low-dose cyclophosphamide (LDCY) 333 mg/m(2) every four we eks intravenously and by oral administration of 5'-DFUR (a masked comp ound of 5-Fluorouracil), Serum levels of immunosuppressive acidic prot ein (IAP), an acute phase protein, were measured every four weeks for a total of thirty-one LDCY trials of ten patients, LDCY chemotherapy s ignificantly decreased the IAP levels in cancer patients with high IAP levels. These results suggested that LDCY chemotherapy could counter- act host responses against tumors and could have decreased immunosuppr essive responses in cancer patients.