ERCC1 as a marker of prognosis and sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with stage III–IV non-small cell lung cancer

Lung cancer is one of most actual problem of modern oncology. The III-IV stages of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Zaporizhzhia region are diagnosed in more than 75 % of patients. Chemotherapy is a standard of advanced NSCLC treatment. But results of such treatment are still unsatisfactory due to tumoral chemoresistance. So, it's very important question to search for new clinical factors with significant prognostic and predictive value. Objective . To evaluate the expression of ERCC1, p53 in patients at advanced stages of NSCLC, to examine the association of marker expression with various clinical and morphological factors, and to evaluate the prognostic and predictive value of ERCC1 in patients at advanced stages of NSCLC. Methods . 45 patients with IIIA, IIIB, IV stages of NSCLC were included in this study. ERCC1 was assessed by immunohistochemistry. According to received data relationship of ERCC1 expression with clinico-morphological factors and ERCC1 clinical significance were assessed. Results . Clinically significant relation of ERCC1 expression with stage and p53 expression was observed in our study. It was revealed that patients with high ERCC1 expression had better survival than patients with low ERCC1 expression (106.5 vs 38 weeks, P = 0.002). It was also mentioned that using of platinum-based chemotherapy greatly improved patients’ survival. ERCC1, p53 and stage disease were proved to be as independent prognostic factors in patients which received chemotherapy. Conclusions . ERCC1 is important prognostic factor and could be used to determine efficacy of platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with the IIIA–IV stages of NSCLC.