Second-line chemotherapy with capecitabine (Xeloda) and docetaxel (Taxotere) in previously treated, unresectable adenocarcinoma of pancreas: the final results of a phase II trial.

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy and toxicity of the docetaxel and capecitabine combination in patients with previously treated, unresectable adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

Patients And Methods: Patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma, pre-treated with gemcitabine-based chemotherapy, were treated with capecitabine (800 mg/m(2) orally, twice a day for 14 days) and docetaxel (75 mg/m(2) i.v, on day 1), every 3 weeks.

Sixty-day all-cause mortality rates in patients treated for gastrointestinal cancers, in randomised trials, at the Royal Marsden Hospital.

The aim of this study was to determine the 60-day all-cause mortality rate, during chemotherapy, for patients with oesophagogastric, pancreatic, and colorectal cancer. We analysed 1720 patients that were treated within randomised trials. The minimum follow-up period was > 60 days.

Expansion of CD8+ T cells that express low levels of the B cell-specific molecule CD20 in patients with multiple myeloma.

An expanded cytotoxic/memory T-cell subpopulation expressing low levels of the B-cell-specific CD20 molecule was found in peripheral blood and bone marrow of patients with multiple myeloma at the time of diagnosis, but returned to normal levels following treatment. CD3+CD20dim cells were also increased in monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance albeit at lower levels. Lower CD3+CD20dim cell numbers at baseline may be associated with lack of response to treatment and a poor outcome.