ERCC1 C8092A (rs3212986) polymorphism as a predictive marker in esophageal cancer patients treated with cisplatin/5-FU-based neoadjuvant therapy.

OBJECTIVE

At present, no consensus exists on the beneficial effect of preoperative cisplatin/5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-based chemotherapy versus primary surgery in the management of patients with esophageal cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of some relevant genetic polymorphisms, within drug-related and DNA repair genes, on the clinical outcome of esophageal cancer patients subjected to cisplatin/5-FU-based neoadjuvant treatment.

METHODS

DNA from 143 esophageal cancer patients, 63 receiving neoadjuvant therapy and 80 receiving primary surgery, was analyzed for the following polymorphisms: the GSTM1 null, GSTT1 null, and GSTP1 Ile105Val (rs16953) in glutathione S-transferase (GST) family, 2 in thymidylate synthase (TS) gene, and the ERCC1 Asn118Asn (rs11615), ERCC1 C8092A (rs3212986), XPD/ERCC2 Asp312Asn (rs1799793), and XPD/ERCC2 Lys751Gln (rs13181) of the nucleotide excision repair pathway.

RESULTS

We found that the ERCC1 rs3212986, although not associated with therapeutic response, is an independent predictive marker of better outcome in a cisplatin/5-FU-based neoadjuvant setting (hazard ratio: 0.38, 95% confidence interval: 0.2-0.73, P=0.008). In contrast, no association with clinical outcome was observed for this polymorphism in the primary surgery group.

CONCLUSION

Our study indicates the ERCC1 rs3212986 as a predictive marker in the cisplatin/5-FU-based neoadjuvant setting, and also suggests its use as a marker to select the appropriate therapeutic approach in esophageal cancer patients.