5-fluorouracil (5-FU), an antimetabolite in the fluoropyrimidine class, is the third most commonly used chemotherapeutic agent worldwide for the treatment of solid malignancies [1]. Despite advances in novel cancer therapies, commonly used in combination with fluoropyrimidines, 5-FU remains one of the most effective and safe chemotherapy agents to manage colorectal cancer (CRC).

Fluoropyrimidines have been extensively used for almost 6 decades to treat a variety of solid cancers, especially colon, gastric, anal, rectal, head & neck and breast. However, 31–34% of patients encountered grade 3–4 adverse events (AEs) with 0.5% mortality oftennecessitating dose reduction or discontinuation. 

Advances in oncology such as better access to health care system, earlier cancer diagnosis and new chemotherapies have led to longer survival of oncologic patients over the last decades. However, this population is vulnerable to cardiovascular drug-related adverse events like cardiomyopathy, which leads to heart failure and impairs survival and quality of life.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are a new type of broad-spectrum antitumor drugs, which mainly include cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein-4 (CTLA-4) inhibitors, programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) and its ligand PD-L1 inhibitors. Since 2011, ICIs have been approved for more than 20 kinds of malignant tumors.

Recently we published the article ‘Accumulation of protoporphyrin IX in medulloblastoma cell lines and sensitivity to subsequent photodynamic treatment’.