Graft rejection occurring in post-liver transplant patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy: a case series

Liver transplantation for non-resectable colorectal liver metastasis: where we are and where we are going

PURPOSE

Almost 50% of patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC) will develop liver metastasis (LM). Although their only long-term curative treatment is surgery, less than half of these patients can be eventually resected. Therefore, palliative chemotherapy is offered as a definitive option, though with poor results. Recently, the University of Oslo group has published encouraging results in the treatment of these patients with liver transplantation (LT), whereby worldwide interest in this option has been renewed.

METHODS

A literature review of LT for patients with unresectable colorectal metastasis was performed. This included information regarding patient selection, complications, overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS), immunosuppression, chemotherapy, and description of the ongoing trials.

RESULTS

Improvements in OS and DFS have been observed in consecutive published prospective trials, as patient selection has been refined. Papers reporting OS of patients who randomly presented similar selection criteria also exhibited good results.

CONCLUSION

LT within the available therapeutic options in patients with CRC-LM seems to be a compelling alternative in carefully selected patients. The ongoing trials will provide valuable information regarding selection criteria, immunosuppressive therapy and different modalities of adjuvant chemotherapy, which are, to our knowledge, the vital platform of LT in CRC-LM. Although some of the developing techniques involve living donors, graft availability for these patients remains a matter of major concern.

Transplant oncology: assessment of response and tolerance to systemic chemotherapy for metastatic colorectal cancer after liver transplantation - a retrospective study

Solid organ recipients have a 2-5 fold increased risk of malignancy compared to the general population. Because of the broader indications for transplantation, it is anticipated that an increasing number of organ graft recipients will present with malignancy. There are limited data about responses and tolerance to chemotherapy in solid organ transplanted patients. Twenty-three of 46 colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with nonresectable liver metastases who had undergone liver transplantation (LT) in three different studies were included. All patients had received chemotherapy both prior to LT and after LT, at recurrence of metastatic CRC (mCRC). Adverse reactions (grades 3-4) and clinical and radiological outcome were retrospectively registered. Overall survival was determined from start of palliative chemotherapy after LT. No graft rejection was observed. Chemotherapy for mCRC was overall well-tolerated and there was no increased bone marrow toxicity registered after LT; however, mucositis and diarrhea were more frequent in post-LT chemotherapy. Median overall survival from start of palliative chemotherapy after LT was 13 months. No graft loss was observed when chemotherapy for mCRC was given to LT recipients who had developed nonresectable metastases. Overall, the chemotherapy for mCRC was well-tolerated, induced responses, and long-term survival was obtained in some patients.

DPYD and Fluorouracil-Based Chemotherapy: Mini Review and Case Report

5-Fluorouracil remains a foundational component of chemotherapy for solid tumour malignancies. While considered a generally safe and effective chemotherapeutic, 5-fluorouracil has demonstrated severe adverse event rates of up to 30%. Understanding the pharmacokinetics of 5-fluorouracil can improve the precision medicine approaches to this therapy. A single enzyme, dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD), mediates 80% of 5-fluorouracil elimination, through hepatic metabolism. Importantly, it has been known for over 30-years that adverse events during 5-fluorouracil therapy are linked to high systemic exposure, and to those patients who exhibit DPD deficiency. To date, pre-treatment screening for DPD deficiency in patients with planned 5-fluorouracil-based therapy is not a standard of care. Here we provide a focused review of 5-fluorouracil metabolism, and the efforts to improve predictive dosing through screening for DPD deficiency. We also outline the history of key discoveries relating to DPD deficiency and include relevant information on the potential benefit of therapeutic drug monitoring of 5-fluorouracil. Finally, we present a brief case report that highlights a limitation of pharmacogenetics, where we carried out therapeutic drug monitoring of 5-fluorouracil in an orthotopic liver transplant recipient. This case supports the development of robust multimodality precision medicine services, capable of accommodating complex clinical dilemmas.