title: ERCC1 expression as a predictive marker of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck treated with cisplatin-based concurrent chemoradiation.
abstract: The excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1) enzyme plays a rate-limiting role in the nucleotide excision repair pathway and is associated with resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of ERCC1 expression as a predictive marker of survival in patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) treated with cisplatin-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT). ERCC1 expression was assessed by immunohistochemical staining. The median age of the 45 patients analysed was 56 years (range 27-75 years), and 82% were men; 73% of all specimens showed high expression of ERCC1. The overall tumour response rate after CCRT was 89%. The median follow-up was 53.6 months (95% CI, 34.5-72.7 months). The 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 58.7 and 61.3%, respectively. Univariate analyses showed that patients with low expression of ERCC1 had a significantly higher 3-year PFS (83.3 vs 49.4%, P=0.036) and OS (91.7 vs 45.5%, P=0.013) rates. Multivariate analysis showed that low expression of ERCC1 was an independent predictor for prolonged survival (HR, 0.120; 95% CI, 0.016-0.934, P=0.043). These results suggest that ERCC1 expression might be a useful predictive marker of locally advanced SCCHN in patients treated with cisplatin-based CCRT.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul 135-710, Korea.
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jun
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Y C
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: H-S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Y-I
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Son
authors.forename: J-H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Baek
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000628:therapy; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004720:Endonucleases / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011878:Radiotherapy; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C071447:ERCC1 protein, human; D004720:Endonucleases; D002945:Cisplatin