Differences in the Expression Profiles of Excision Repair Crosscomplementation Group 1, X-Ray Repair Crosscomplementation Group 1, and βIII-Tubulin Between Primary Non-small Cell Lung Cancer and Metastatic Lymph Nodes and the Significance in Mid-Term Survival

Introduction This study aimed to compare the expression profiles of excision repair crosscomplementation group 1 (ERCC1), x-ray repair crosscomplementation group 1 (XRCC1), and βIII-tubulin between patients with primary non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and those with metastatic lymph nodes and to identify the prognostic significance of each chemotherapy resistance protein. Materials Those who met the inclusion criteria were patients (1) with NSCLC, (2) with metastatic lymph nodes (N1 or N2), and (3) who underwent surgical resection followed by platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy. A total of 82 patients were included in the study. The expression profile of each protein was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and compared according to tumor location. Results The mean age of the patients was 57.5 ± 8.4 years. There were 30 N1 and 52 N2 patients. ERCC1 expression was upregulated in 55% and downregulated in 8% of metastatic lymph nodes, when compared with primary tumors ( p p p Conclusions Significant changes in the expression profile of each protein were observed in metastatic lymph nodes. The resistance protein-guided treatment should be performed after integrative interpretation of expression profiles of each protein in both primary and metastatic sites.