Department of Surgery, Korea Cancer Center Hospital of Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Science
Corresponding Author:
Jong-lnn Lee ,Tel: 82-2-970-1217, Fax: 82-2-978-2005, Email: jilee@kcch.re.kr
Received: May 30, 2005; Accepted: June 15, 2005.
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ABSTRACT
The fluoropyrimidine 5-fluorouracil(5-FU) which was synthesized by Dr. Charles Heidelberger in 1957 exert sits cytotoxic effects by inhibition DNA synthesis through interfering thymydylate synthase and interferences with function and processing of RNA. 5-FU has broad spectrum of action against gastrointestinal malignancies(esophageal, gastric, pancreatic, colorectal, anal and hepatocellular cancers), breast cancer, head and neck cancer, and ovarian cancer. It is used as a single therapy and also used as a key drug of multiple combination therapy. Application of 5-FU to gastric cancer follows as the history of chemotherapy of gastric cancer. Oral 5-FU drugs were introduced for compensation of difficulties of intravenous administration, however, they have demerits of various bioavailability. Novel oral 5-FU drugs recovered these demerits and were reported as they have nearly same cytotoxicity as continuous infusion of 5-FU. In this article, general concepts of chemotherapy, chemotherapeutic agents and chemotherapy against gastric cancer including 5-FU were reviewed.
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