Comparative pharmacology of oral fluoropyrimidines: a focus on pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and pharmacomodulation

The main purpose of the present review article was to shed light on the different 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) prodrugs by underlining their respective pharmacological features in terms of metabolic activation, dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase inhibition, pharmacokinetic profile and biomodulation ability. Oral fluoropyrimidines differ particularly as concerns their pharmacokinetic profile and especially in the delivery of circulating 5-FU. More clinical studies need to be performed incorporating tumour predictive markers during oral fluoropyrimidine-based treatment. The new possibilities are to achieve pharmacomodulation of oral fluoropyrimidines, notably for UFT and capecitabine, that open up the prospect of establishing significant novel treatment protocols based on drug combinations.