Thymidine phosphorylase expression is useful in selecting adjuvant chemotherapy for stage III gastric cancer

Thymidine phosphorylase (TP) is an enzyme which converts doxifluridine (5 ' -DFUR) to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). To assess whether TP expression is useful for selecting adjuvant chemotherapy in advanced gastric cancer, we compare d effects of oral 5 ' -DFUR and 5-FU and assessed correlation between drug efficacy and TP expression level. We examined TP expression in 286 patients . TP expression was assessed with immunohistochemical staining. When we com pared prognosis in two chemotherapy groups with high TP expression, better survival was observed in 5 ' -DFUR than in 5-FU group (p=0.0413). Especiall y in stage III, patients with high TP had better survival in 5 ' -DFUR than in 5-FU group.