Arsenic trioxide/ascorbic acid therapy in patients with refractory metastatic colorectal carcinoma: A clinical experience

Figures & data

Table I.  Toxicity

Toxicity profile
	Total No. of patients	Male	Female
Grade I
Dehydration	1 (20%)	1	0
Neuropathy	1 (20%)	1	0
Grade II
Fatigue	4 (80%)	3	1
Dehydration	1 (20%)	1	0
Grade III
Nausea/Vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, neuropathy, thrombocytopenia and anemia
	2 (40%)	0	2

Table II.  Data from some of the analyzed hematological parameters

	Patient 1	Patient 2	Patient 3	Patient 4	Patient 5
	Start/End	Start/End	Start/End	Start/End	Start/End
CEA^@	5.1/6.8	15.9/17.0	2.8/2.1	66.4/180	273/213
HGb (g/dL)	14.4/9.0	11.7/10.3	13.4/11.5	12.6/12.1	16.4/10.5
Platelet (10*3)	236/209	257/528	290/236	216/250	167/155
WBC (10*3)	5.46/3.23	6.61/2.39	9.39/7.19	8.94/6.07	5.67/4.54
RBC (10*6)	4.39/2.85	3.90/3.60	4.94/4.08	3.84/3.42	5.59/3.69

@ In some of the patients the CEA measurements were done just before the termination of the treatment. Therefore, the precise end of the treatment CEA levels may not be represented.

Figure 1.  TS transcript level decreased with arsenic treatment. Peripheral blood samples were drawn prior to (vertical bars) and post arsenic infusion (horizontal bars) and Mean Normalized Expression of TS mRNA was measured as described in materials and methods. Real time PCR analysis of TS and β-actin expression was done as described under materials and methods. Recovery of TS during two weeks of intermission in treatment is highlighted with an arrow.