Therapeutic potential of EC-18 as a chemotherapy adjuvant for 5-fluorouracil-induced neutropenia

Chemotherapy-induced neutropenia (CIN) is a complication that arises during cancer treatment and necessitates dose reduction. Preventing CIN and maintaining absolute neutrophil counts (ANC) is critical for successful chemotherapy because a rapid decline of neutrophils increases susceptibility to infection. Here, we investigated whether administration of EC-18 has therapeutic effects on the treatment of CIN in 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-induced neutropenia mouse model. A single injection of 5-FU 100mg/kg reduced the ANC in the control, EC-18 125 and EC-18 250mg/kg-treated cohort from pre-injection values to 1000 cells/μL. EC-18 125 or 250mg/kg significantly reduced the duration of neutropenia from 7.4±1.14 days to 2.6±0.55 or 3.0±0.71 days, respectively. Moreover, the ANC of all individuals in the control cohort fell to severely neutropenic range (ANC Citation Format: Yong-Jae Kim, Jinseon Jeong, Ki-Young Sohn, Do Young Lee, Sun Young Yoon, Jae Wha Kim. Therapeutic potential of EC-18 as a chemotherapy adjuvant for 5-fluorouracil-induced neutropenia [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 360.