[Immunohistochemical and clinicopathological study of thymidylate synthase, dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase, and orotate phosphoribosyl transferase expression in oral cancer patients responding to UFT].

Thymidylate synthase(TS), dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase(DPD), and orotate phosphoribosyl transferase(OPRT)are initial key enzymes in the 5-fluorouracil(5-FU)metabolic pathway. In this study, we investigated clinicopathological and immunohistochemical expressions of TS, DPD, and OPRT in oral cancer patients who showed a complete response(CR)to UFT. We also evaluated patients showing a partial response(PR)and stable disease(SD)following UFT. The numbers of CR, PR, and SD cases were 3, 5, and 10, respectively. Pathologically, all CR and PR cases were the well-differentiated type, and 5 out of 10 SD cases were of the moderately or poorly-differentiated type. Three out of the 5 cases of moderately or poorlydifferentiated type were DPD-negative. Most cases of CR and PR were DPD-positive. OPRT expression showed no difference with the UFT response. We suggest that UFT affects high DPD patients with the well-differentiated type, but may not influence low DPD patients with the moderately or poorly-differentiated type.