The aim was to investigate the clinical efficacy and immunomodulatory effect of lienal polypeptide injection combined with postoperative FOLFOX chemotherapy regimen in colon cancer patients. A total of 84 colon cancer patients were selected between January, 2014 and December, 2015. The selected patients were randomly divided into the observation (42 patients) and control (42 patients) groups. The observation group patients were treated with FOLFOX chemotherapy regimen combined with lienal polypeptide, whereas, the control group patients were treated with FOLFOX chemotherapeutic regimen only. After two cycles of treatment, Karnofsky performance scale (KPS) index, side effects or toxicity and the peripheral blood T-cell subset analyses in the two groups of patients were evaluated. The patients who received FOLFOX chemotherapeutic regimen combined with lienal polypeptide in the observation group showed significantly higher score of KPS than patients of the control group (P<0.05). No significant difference in the spectrum of side effects such as nausea, vomiting, neurotoxicity, liver and kidney dysfunction, oral mucosal inflammation were observed in the treatment groups. However, the incidence of bone marrow suppression was significantly lower in the observation group in comparison with the control group (P<0.05). Additionally, the CD8+ T cells were decreased in the observation group patients compared to the control group, while the ratio of CD4+ T/CD8+ T (TH/TC) cells and the number of natural killer cells were higher in the observation group patients than the control group (P<0.05). In conclusion, the results suggest that, when the standard FOLFOX chemotheraputic regimen is combined with lienal polypeptide to treat colon cancer, it enhances the general well being of patients and strengthens the immune system in the combat against cancer.
Keywords: Karnofsky performance scale score; adjuvant chemotherapy; colon cancer; immune function; lienal polypeptide injection; toxicity.