Non-Malignant and Malignant Skin Lesions in Kidney Transplant Patients

Regenerative Wound Dressings for Skin Cancer

“…5-Fluorouracil (5-fluoro-1H-pyrimidine-2,4-dione, Figure 1), is a pyrimidine analogue [31,[39][40][41] which belongs to the class of anti-metabolite drugs [31,35,[41][42][43]. As a chemotherapeutic agent, it has been widely applied in the treatment of malignant diseases [42].…”

“…As a chemotherapeutic agent, it has been widely applied in the treatment of malignant diseases [42]. Moreover, it has been used for the topical treatment of superficial basal cell carcinoma and, while it is not recommended for nodular or infiltrative basal cell carcinoma, it is used in very old patients with no other therapeutic options [27,31,42,43].…”

“…The main underlying mechanism for its anti-tumor character involves blocking the conversion of deoxyuridine into thymidine as a consequence to the irreversible binding to thymidylate synthase through the cofactor 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate. In this manner, DNA synthesis in cancer cells is inhibited, which results in reduced cell proliferation and increased apoptosis [35,41,43]. 5-Fluorouracil metabolism depends on its degradation by the dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase enzyme which reduces the molecule to its inactive form, dihydrofluorouracil [44].…”

“…For topical applications, 5-fluorouracil is available as 2% and 5% solutions or 5% cream and it is used twice a day for 2 or more weeks. For superficial basal cell carcinoma treatment, clearance rate is 90% and for squamous cell carcinoma in situ, between 48% to 85% [31,43]. Its advantage relies on the possibility of the patient to apply it at home, but it can be challenging for elderly individuals who might need assistance [31,43].…”

“…For superficial basal cell carcinoma treatment, clearance rate is 90% and for squamous cell carcinoma in situ, between 48% to 85% [31,43]. Its advantage relies on the possibility of the patient to apply it at home, but it can be challenging for elderly individuals who might need assistance [31,43]. Common side effects include allergic contact and irritant dermatitis, erythema, pruritus, erosions, hyper-or hypopigmentation, and pain [31,43,44].…”