Publication
Interaction of tamoxifen with concurrent cytotoxic adjuvant treatment affects lymphocytes and lymphocyte subsets counts in breast cancer patients
Journal Paper/Review - May 1, 1999
Sabbioni M E, Goldhirsch A, Perey L, Bonnefoi H, Thürlimann Beat, Bernhard J, Bacchi M, Siegrist H P, Hürny C, Castiglione M, Senn H J
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PubMed
Citation
Type
Journal
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Issn Print
Pages
Brief description/objective
The effects and interaction of endocrine and cytotoxic adjuvant treatment on measures of cellular immunity were assessed in 41 stage I-II breast cancer patients from International Breast Cancer Study Group trials. Counts of lymphocytes and lymphocyte subsets [(T, T4, T8, B, natural killer (NK) and activated T (AT) cells] were assessed by flow cytometry immediately before adjuvant therapy at baseline and on day 1 of the 3rd cycle. Twenty-two patients received cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil (CMF), 7 CMF and tamoxifen (TAM), and 12 TAM alone. On day 1 of the 3rd cycle the counts of total lymphocytes (P = 0.003) and all lymphocyte subsets (P<0.05) except AT cells were significantly lower than baseline in the CMF treatment group. There was no significant change in the CMF+TAM or in the TAM treatment group. The combination of CMF and TAM resulted in less pronounced decrease in lymphocyte and subset counts from baseline to day 1 of the 3rd cycle. It seems possible that there is an interaction between TAM with CMF that affects lymphocyte and lymphocyte subset counts during cytotoxic treatment.