Early diagnosis of colon cancer after 2-clorodeoxyadenosine administration

Abstract

Purine analogues such as 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (2-CdA) are specific inhibitors of the cell cycle. We present a patient with chronic lymphoblastic leukemia who received 2-CdA and two months later was diagnosed with de novo colon adenocarcinoma Dukes stage I. The patient was treated surgically and is still living on with satisfactory laboratory tests.If we do accept that the diagnosis of colon cancer in our patient was not a simple coincidence and, having in mind that hematological malignancies often coexist with other malignancies, we could consider, with reservations, that our case report is a potential model explaining the in vivo action of nucleoside analogues such 2-CdA in oncogenesis and apoptosis in bowel epithelium.