15, Serotec) and rat anti-mouse CD31 (150) (Clone MEC 13.3, Pharmingen). Alexa Fluor 488-, 568- and 633-labeled secondary antibodies (Molecular Probes
In recent years, considerable selleck chemicals Crenolanib progress has been made in the treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer, mainly due to improvements in the type and quality of surgery, better staging methods and regular use of chemoradiation (CRT) or radiation therapies. Although the use of preoperative CRT for resectable rectal cancer remains a controversial issue, preoperative CRT is clearly preferred when tumour shrinkage is required before surgery, that is, in locally advanced T4 disease and low-lying tumours when sphincter preservation is attempted (Sauer et al, 2004; Bosset et al, 2006; G��rard et al, 2006).

Furthermore, preoperative CRT improves local disease control with less toxicity compared with postoperative CRT (Sauer et al, 2004). Many attempts have been made to increase the convenience and activity of preoperative 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-based CRT. Evidence from phase II trials suggests that the oral fluoropyrimidine capecitabine (Xeloda?; F Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Basel, Switzerland) has similar activity to that of protracted 5-FU infusional CRT regimens (Glynne-Jones et al, 2006a). Combining different chemotherapy agents, such as oxaliplatin or irinotecan, with fluoropyrimidines has a clear rationale based on a plethora of data in the metastatic colorectal setting and the potential to further improve efficacy in patients receiving preoperative CRT.

Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin?; Sanofi-Aventis, Bridgewater, NJ, USA) is an ideal candidate for inclusion into neoadjuvant CRT regimens because of its radiosensitising capabilities and synergy with fluoropyrimidines. Capecitabine has been tested in combination with oxaliplatin and radiotherapy in several different regimens (for review see Glynne-Jones et al, 2006a). These include continuous capecitabine (7 days per week) with oxaliplatin given on days 1 and 29 (Glynne-Jones et al, 2006c), continuous capecitabine (5 days per week) with weekly doses of oxaliplatin (Machiels et al, 2005; Rutten et al, 2006) and discontinuous capecitabine (days 1�C14 and 22�C35) with oxaliplatin on days 1, 8, 22 and 29 (Roedel et al, 2003, 2007).

The aim of the present multicentre phase II study was to evaluate the efficacy, tolerability and feasibility of preoperative capecitabine plus oxaliplatin in combination with radiotherapy as described by Roedel et al (2003, 2007), and to investigate the contribution of an additional single cycle of neoadjuvant capecitabine and oxaliplatin (XELOX regimen) (D��az-Rubio et al, 2002; Cassidy et al, 2004) before the start of radiotherapy. Anacetrapib MATERIALS AND METHODS Patient population Patients entering the study had histologically confirmed rectal adenocarcinoma.