Kawai A, Matsumoto H, Endou Y, Honda Y, Kubota H, Higashida M, Hirai T. Repeated Combined Chemotherapy with Cisplatin Lowers Carnitine Levels in Gastric Cancer Patients.
Ann Nutr Metab 2017;
71:261-265. [PMID:
29237151 DOI:
10.1159/000485808]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2017] [Accepted: 11/28/2017] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIMS
Carnitine plays an important role in the metabolism of fatty acids. It has also been reported that the administration of anticancer drugs may lead to reductions in serum carnitine levels due to decreased activity of organic cation transporter novel 2, which plays a role in the reabsorption of carnitine in the tubules of the kidney. We therefore studied the change in carnitine levels when chemotherapy was administered repeatedly to patients with gastric cancer.
METHODS
Ten patients with upper gastrointestinal cancer were enrolled in this study between December 2014 and August 2015. All patients were administered chemotherapy consisting of TS-1 and cisplatin every 3 weeks: 3 received it as adjuvant therapy post resection, the remaining 7 received it as treatment for unresectable tumors. Before the start of each chemotherapy cycle, serum was collected.
RESULTS
The mean total carnitine level was 54.5 ± 13.7 μmol/L prior to commencing chemotherapy; it was 46.7 ± 13.5 and 41.4 ± 14.8 μmol/L at the second and third cycles respectively. The total carnitine level was decreased in a statistically significant manner (p = 0.0039). The serum level of total protein and cholinesterase was also decreased significantly (p = 0.0218 and p = 0.0418).
CONCLUSION
Carnitine levels decreased during repeated chemotherapy in patients with gastric cancer, and they are associated with the nutritional status.
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