Genetic polymorphisms of DNA repair pathways influence the response to chemotherapy and overall survival of gastric cancer.

We aimed to evaluate the clinical response to platinum-based chemotherapy and treatment outcome of gastric cancer patients in the present of ERCC1, ERCC2, NBN, RAD51, and XRCC3 gene polymorphisms. A number of 415 patients of gastric cancer that received platinum-based chemotherapy were enrolled in the present study. The presence of ERCC1 rs11615 and rs2298881, ERCC2 rs1799793 and rs13181, NBN rs1805794, rs709816, and RAD51 rs1801321 and XRCC3 rs1799794 were determined using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Conditional regression analysis identified that CC genotype of ERCC1 rs11615 and AA genotype of ERCC2 rs1799793 was associated with a better response to chemotherapy in gastric cancer patients, and the odds ratio (ORs)(95% confidence interval (CI)) were 2.70(1.33-5.70) and 3.12(1.52-6.84), respectively. By the Cox analysis, the CC genotype of ERCC1 rs11615, AA genotype of ERCC2 rs1799793, and CC genotype of NBN rs1805794 were significantly associated with a longer overall survival (OS) of gastric cancer. In conclusion, our results suggest that ERCC1 rs11615, ERCC2 rs1799793, and NBN rs1805794 polymorphisms in the DNA repair pathways may influence the response to chemotherapy and OS of gastric cancer.