ERCC1 as a Predictive Marker for FOLFOX Chemotherapy in an Adjuvant Setting

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to identify the excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1) as a predictive marker for FOLFOX adjuvant chemotherapy in stages II and III colon cancer patients.MethodsA total of 166 high risk stages II and III colon cancer patients were retrospectively enrolled in this study, and data were collected prospectively. They underwent a curative resection followed by FOLFOX4 adjuvant chemotherapy. We analyzed ERCC1 expression in the primary colon tumor by using immunohistochemical staining. The oncological outcomes included the 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate. The DFS was analyzed by using the Kaplan-Meier method with the log-rank test. A Cox proportional hazard model was used for the prognostic analysis.ResultsERCC1-positive expression was statistically significant in the older patients (P = 0.032). In the multivariate analysis, the prognostic factors for DFS were female sex (P = 0.016), N stage (P = 0.009), and postoperative carcinoembryonic antigen level (P = 0.001), but ERCC1 expression was not a statistically significant prognostic factor for DFS in the univariate analysis (P = 0.397). The 5-year DFS rate was not significantly associated with the ERCC1 expression in all patients (P = 0.396) or with stage III disease (P = 0.582).ConclusionWe found that ERCC1 expression was not significantly correlated with the 5-year DFS as reflected by the oncologic outcomes in patients with high-risk stages II and III colon cancer treated with FOLFOX adjuvant chemotherapy.