Occurrence of subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus after treatment with fluorouracil and capecitabine

• Published in: Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology Vol. 59; no. 2; pp. S4 - S6
• Main Authors: Weger, Wolfgang, MD, Kränke, Birger, MD, Gerger, Armin, MD, Salmhofer, Wolfgang, MD, Aberer, Elisabeth, MD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Mosby, Inc 01.08.2008; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Administration, Oral; Aged; Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic - administration & dosage; Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic - adverse effects; Biological and medical sciences; Capecitabine; Deoxycytidine - administration & dosage; Deoxycytidine - adverse effects; Deoxycytidine - analogs & derivatives; Dermatology; Fatal Outcome; Female; Fluorouracil - administration & dosage; Fluorouracil - adverse effects; Fluorouracil - analogs & derivatives; Humans; Lupus Erythematosus, Cutaneous - chemically induced; Lupus Erythematosus, Cutaneous - drug therapy; Medical sciences; Severity of Illness Index; Steroids - therapeutic use; Stomach Neoplasms - drug therapy; Antineoplastic agent; Immunopathology; Connective tissue disease; Skin disease; Enzyme; Capecitabine; Dermatology; Fluoropyrimidine derivatives; Transferases; Enzyme inhibitor; Autoimmune disease; Subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus; Prodrug; Thymidylate synthase; Treatment; Antimetabolic; Methyltransferases; Systemic disease; Pyrimidine derivatives; Pyrimidine nucleoside; Fluorouracil
• ISSN: 0190-9622; 1097-6787
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jaad.2007.06.040

Capecitabine, an oral fluoropyrimidine and 5-fluorouracil (FU) prodrug recently approved for the treatment of metastatic colon and breast cancer, is currently under investigation in patients with gastric cancer. It has the advantage of oral administration, and good tolerability with its activity being comparable with intravenous 5-FU. Lupus erythematosus and lupuslike drug eruptions have been observed after 5-FU treatment, but so far no cases of subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus have been described in patients treated either with capecitabine or 5-FU. We report a patient who developed subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus after administration of 5-FU and capecitabine.