Relationship between ERCC1 polymorphisms, disease progression, and survival in the Gynecologic Oncology Group Phase III Trial of intraperitoneal versus intravenous cisplatin and paclitaxel for stage III epithelial ovarian cancer

MMP9 but Not EGFR, MET, ERCC1, P16, and P-53 Is Associated with Response to Concomitant Radiotherapy, Cetuximab, and Weekly Cisplatin in Patients with Locally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer

Concomitant administration of radiotherapy with cisplatin or radiotherapy with cetuximab appear to be the treatment of choice for patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer. In the present retrospective analysis, we investigated the predictive role of several biomarkers in an unselected cohort of patients treated with concomitant radiotherapy, weekly cisplatin, and cetuximab (CCRT). We identified 37 patients treated with this approach, of which 13 (35%) achieved a complete response and 10 (27%) achieved a partial response. Severe side effects were mainly leucopenia, dysphagia, rash, and anemia. Tumor EGFR, MET, ERCC1, and p-53 protein and/or gene expression were not associated with treatment response. In contrast, high MMP9 mRNA expression was found to be significantly associated with objective response. In conclusion, CCRT is feasible and active. MMP9 was the only biomarker tested that appears to be of predictive value in cetuximab treated patients. However, this is a hypothesis generating study and the results should not be viewed as definitive evidence until they are validated in a larger cohort.

Pharmacogenomics of taxane/platinum therapy in ovarian cancer

OBJECTIVES

Taxane (paclitaxel or docetaxel) and platinum (cisplatin or carboplatin) chemotherapy is commonly used in the treatment of ovarian cancer. Despite an initial high response to therapy, the 5-year survival rate remains low. The identification of pharmacogenomic markers to identify patients unlikely to respond or at risk for severe toxicity will assist in the goal of individualizing ovarian cancer treatment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Most studies have assessed single nucleotide polymorphisms from genes involved in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the drugs.

RESULTS

Unfortunately, most markers identified have not been replicated in subsequent studies.

CONCLUSIONS

Other mechanisms of variability, including epigenetic control of gene expression and copy number variation, may play important roles. In addition, nongenetic influences such as concurrent medications, and physiological and environmental factors could also affect individual responses to taxane and platinum therapy.

Excision repair cross complementation group 1 polymorphisms predict overall survival after platinum-based chemotherapy for completely resected non-small-cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND

It has been reported that the expression of excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1) protein predicts the effect of platinum-based chemotherapy and overall survival in the several cancers. And there are some reports suggesting that the polymorphism of the ERCC1 may predict the effect of platinum-based chemotherapy and survival of the patients. We have already reported that the expression of ERCC1 protein predicts survival after platinum-based chemotherapy for 90 completely resected non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We investigated the ERCC1 polymorphisms (C8092A and C118T) whether these factors influence for the prognosis of these 90 NSCLC patients treated with platinum-based chemotherapy.

RESULTS

Two of the ERCC1 polymorphisms, C8092A and C118T, affected the prognosis of the NSCLC patients who received adjuvant and/or neoadjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy. The wild type, C/C of the codon 8092, was associated with better prognosis than C/A or A/A types (P=0.0154) and the wild type C/C of the codon 118 was associated with better prognosis than C/T or T/T types (P=0.0307). This effect was not seen in an independent group of 55 completely resected NSCLC patients who were treated with surgery alone. The combination of low expression of ERCC1 protein together with the C/C type codon 8092 and C/C type codon 118 polymorphism of the ERCC1 gene was associated with the best prognosis.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data seem to suggest that the ERCC1 protein expression and polymorphism of ERCC1 may predict the survival of patients who are treated with platinum-based chemotherapy.

ERCC1 codon 118 C→T polymorphism associated with ERCC1 expression and outcome of FOLFOX-4 treatment in Asian patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma

We analyzed the influence of codon 118 C→T polymorphism of ERCC1 on its protein expression levels, clinicopathological features, and outcome of 168 Chinese patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma that had been treated with first-line FOLFOX-4 chemotherapy. A high prevalence of C/C genotype was noted (47.6%, n = 80; 168 patients in total). A marked increase of ERCC1 protein expression levels was also noted in patients with C/T or T/T genotypes (70%vs 20%; P < 0.01), which was associated with significantly lower response to FOLFOX-4 (36.4%vs 57.5%; p = 0.01), and shorter progression-free (7 months vs 13 months; P < 0.01) and overall (16 months vs 25 months; P < 0.01) survival times. By multivariate analysis, this polymorphism was also identified as an independent prognostic factor (P = 0.02). These data suggest that Asian populations have a significantly higher prevalence of the C/C genotype in ERCC1 codon 118, which could be a key determinant for good responses to oxaliplatin-based treatment and favorable outcomes.