The CARESS Project is a joint effort of 3 research institutions from Italy and France together with 4 SME's (small and medium sized entities) from Austria, France and Italy to develop an accurate, easy-to-use and cost efficient technology for determination of the DPD (dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase) activity level.

The enzyme DPD is of crucial importance in the metabolism and deactivation of 5-FU (fluorouracil), a cytostatic drug most successfully and most commonly used in treatment of breast, colon and skin cancer.

In case of a genetically caused DPD deficiency 5-FU therapy will result in severe toxic reactions, which can be even fatal at the very first dose of 5-FU. Thus simple and reliable DPD activity screening is of essential importance for early detection of serious counter-indications for 5-FU therapy.