Abstract
Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is an aggressive cancer. We investigated genetic response predictors for patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy. A cohort of 108 patients was recruited. Survival analysis showed that lower esophageal location of tumor, more advanced metastasis stage, and longer length of tumor were associated with poorer overall survival (adjusted P = 0.001, < 0.001, and 0.045, respectively), while the presence of complete/partial response to concurrent chemoradiotherapy was independently associated with better overall survival (adjusted P < 0.001). The GALNT14-rs9679162 “GG” genotype was associated with a lower rate of response (P = 0.014). Multivariate Cox-proportional hazards models also showed that the “GG” genotype was associated with a longer time to complete/partial response (adjusted P = 0.022), independent of leukocyte counts and gender. In conclusion, the presence of a complete/partial response to chemoradiotherapy was critical for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients to achieve better overall survival. The GALNT14-rs9679162 “GG” genotype was associated with a longer time to complete/partial response of concurrent chemoradiotherapy.
Highlights
Esophageal cancer is the 8th most prevalent cancer around the globe [1]
Survival analysis showed that lower esophageal location of tumor, more advanced metastasis stage, and longer length of tumor were associated with poorer overall survival, while the presence of complete/partial response to concurrent chemoradiotherapy was independently associated with better overall survival
concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) was frequently given as a palliative treatment in Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients with cancer metastasis to relieve esophageal obstruction
Summary
Esophageal cancer is the 8th most prevalent cancer around the globe [1]. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and adenocarcinoma are two major types of esophageal cancer. Unresectable esophageal cancer are treated with various chemotherapy regimens or concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) to prolong their survival and/or to improve their quality of life [3,4,5,6]. ~50% of the esophageal cancer patients, when first diagnosed, were already at a far advanced www.impactjournals.com/oncotarget stage with cancer metastasis [11]. Patients of this stage have a mean survival time less than 8.1 months [10]. The standard treatments have not been established for metastatic esophageal cancer [2] It remained elusive whether the chemoradiotherapeutic response can be translated to survival benefits in advanced esophageal cancer patients [2, 6]
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