Fig. 1.

Postulated mechanisms between association of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia at 1-month mark (CIN-1-month) and overall survival: (a) Firstly, one may postulate that patients with a high tumor burden could have a high baseline neutrophil count; making it less likely to experience CIN-1-month; (b) Secondly, since the drug incorporates into the tumor, for patients with a high tumor burden, it is possible that that the standard dosage of the drug may not be enough to exert myelotoxicity; and c) Finally, individuals experiencing different degrees of neutropenia may have different pharmacokinetics of TAS-102 and its metabolites