title: PDCD4 as a predictor of sensitivity to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced rectal cancer patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to examine the role of programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) expression in predicting tumor response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and outcomes for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinicopathological factors and expression of PDCD4 were evaluated in 92 patients with LARC treated with nCRT. After the completion of therapy, 4 cases achieved clinical complete response (cCR), and thus the remaining 88 patients underwent a standardized total mesorectal excision procedure. There were 38 patients (41.3%) with a good response (TRG 3-4) and 54 (58.7%) with a poor one (TRG 0-2).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Immunohistochemical staining analyses showed that patients with high expression of PDCD4 were more sensitive to nCRT than those with low PDCD4 expression (P=0.02). High PDCD4 expression before nCRT and good response (TRG3-4) were significantly associated with improved 5-year disease-free survival and 5-year overall survival (P<0.05). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the pretreatment PDCD4 expression was an independent prognostic factor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study demonstrated that high expression of PDCD4 protein is a useful predictive factor for good tumor response to nCRT and good outcomes in patients with LARC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, University of Jinan, Jinan, China E-mail : wangrenben@sina.cn.
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Dou
authors.forename: Ren-Ben
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiang-Jiao
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Hong-Jiang
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Shu-Mei
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Kun-Li
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Xiao-Qing
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xian-Rang
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Dian-Bin
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Mu
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D059186:Chemoradiotherapy, Adjuvant; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D012074:Remission Induction; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C114487:PDCD4 protein, human; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins