Abstract:Objective:To investigate the effect of short-term neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NC) with 5-FU/CF on tumor cell apoptosis, tumor cell proliferation, expression of p53, postoperative complications and prognosis of colorectal carcinoma.
Methods :Apoptosis index (AI) of tumor cells was assayed by TUNEL, proliteration index (PI) and expression of p53 were examined by immunohistochemical S-P method in 68 colorectal carcinoma samples，while postoperative complications and prognosis were compared in NC groups and non-NC control group.
Results:AI in NC group（x=3.56% ）was significantly higher than that in control group（x=2.29%）（P＜0.01）.PI in NC group（22.60%） was significantly lower than that in control group（33.60%）（P＜0.01）.The p53 positive expression rate in NC group（28.9%，11/38） was significantly lower than that in control group（56.7%，17/30）（P＜0.05）. There was no significant difference in the occurrence rate of postoperative complications between NC group and control group. There was significant negative association between AI and PI in both groups（r=-0.790;r=-0.663）（P＜0.01）. There was significant difference in the rate and average time of recurrence and metastasis between NC group and control group（P＜0.05）.
Conclusions:Short-term neoadjuvant chemotherapy with 5-FU/CF could significantly induce cell apoptosis, inhibit tumor cell proliferation and decrease the positive rate of p53 expression in carcinoma of large intestine. Short-term 5-FU/CF neoadjuvant chemotherapy could delay and decrease the postoperative recurrence and metastasis in colorectal carcinoma without increasing the occurrence of postoperative complications.