Analysis of the Effects of Alleviating Adverse Events and Improving Completion in Colorectal Cancer Patients with Postoperative Adjuvant Chemotherapy with PSK

Abstract

Objective ：It is well known that anti-cancer drugs generate reactive oxygen species and lipoperoxides in cancer patients, and that these free radicals can give rise to adverse events. It has been reported that free radical effects might be attenuated by antioxidants. Recent reports have indicated that Protein-bound polysaccharide K（PSK） exhibits antioxidant effects in addition to its anti-tumor effects. However, there have been few reports investigating whether the antioxidant effects induced by PSK can actually alleviate the adverse events of anti-cancer drugs. In an attempt to alleviate the adverse events and improve completion of oral anti-cancer drugs, we performed a randomized, controlled trial of oral UFT ／ LV plus PSK as postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for stage II and III colorectal cancer. Materials ：Fifty patients who had undergone curative resection of high-risk stage II or stage III adenocarcinoma of the colon and rectum between May 2008 and May 2010 were enrolled in this study. the a 1：1 The PSK（−） and LV（75mg after and for 6 months or until the diagnosis of tumor recurrence. The PSK（＋） group received PSK（3.0g ／ day） every day in addition to the UFT ／ LV treatment. Patient backgrounds, adverse events, completion of oral administration, laboratory test, stress indices, such as Reactive Oxygen Metabolites Test（d─ROMs Test） and salivary chromogranin A, and NK cell population were analyzed. Results patients（36.0％） and overall adverse events in the PSK（−） and PSK（＋） groups, re-spectively. was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse events between the PSK（−） and PSK（＋） groups. Twenty-two and 23 oral of anti-cancer in the PSK（−） and respectively. There was no significant difference in completion of oral administration between the two groups. In laboratory tests, no significant differences were observed between the two groups. There was no significant difference in the d─ROMs Test between the two groups. Similarly, no significant difference was observed in the salivary chromogranin A. The NK cell population in the PSK（＋） group was significantly higher than that in the PSK（−） group（p＝0.03）.