ERCC1 as a predictor of response to induction therapy for stage III non-small cell lung cancer.

e18511 Background: Neoadjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy in stage III NSCLC offers the chance to eradicate occult metastases and decrease tumor volume, thus improving curative surgical resection rates. A remission after induction therapy is correlated with prolonged survival. However, only 40-50% of patients respond to therapy since there is still no validated predictor for the benefit of platinum based chemotherapy. As DNA repair mechanisms are related with resistance of lung cancer cells to platinum-based chemotherapy, aim of the study was to compare ERCC1 level in lymph node metastases with the degree of pathologic tumor regression after induction treatment and surgery. Methods: From July 2004 to June 2009, 46 NSCLC patients with clinically staged IIIA (N = 32) or IIIB (N = 14) NSCLC underwent at least two cycles of platinum-based induction chemotherapy and combined radio-chemotherapy. After restaging radical surgery was performed. ERCC1 was determined from pretreatment samples of metastatic nodes ta...