Affiliations 

  • 1 a Pharmacotherapeutics Unit, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences , Universiti Putra Malaysia , Serdang , Selangor , Malaysia
  • 2 b Clinical Oncology Unit , University Malaya Medical Centre , Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia
  • 3 c Radiotherapy & Oncology , Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak , Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia
Biomarkers, 2018 Mar;23(2):142-146.
PMID: 28554261 DOI: 10.1080/1354750X.2017.1334152

Abstract

CONTEXT: Rash and oral mucositis are major non-haematological adverse events (AEs) of docetaxel, in addition to fatigue, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, which restrict the use of the drug in cancer therapy. Alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AAG) is an acute phase reactant glycoprotein and is a primary carrier of docetaxel in the blood. Docetaxel has extensive binding (>98%) to plasma proteins such as AAG, lipoproteins and albumin.

OBJECTIVE: To study the association between plasma AAG level and non-haematological AEs of docetaxel in Malaysian breast cancer patients of three major ethnic groups (Malays, Chinese and Indians).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and twenty Malaysian breast cancer patients receiving docetaxel as single agent chemotherapy were investigated for AAG plasma level using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. Toxicity assessment was determined using Common Terminology Criteria of Adverse Events v4.0. The association between AAG and toxicity were then established.

RESULTS: There was interethnic variation of plasma AAG level; it was 182 ± 85 mg/dl in Chinese, 237 ± 94 mg/dl in Malays and 240 ± 83 mg/dl in Indians. It was found that low plasma levels of AAG were significantly associated with oral mucositis and rash.

CONCLUSIONS: This study proposes plasma AAG as a potential predictive biomarker of docetaxel non-haematological AEs namely oral mucositis and rash.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.