Gene expression of excision repair cross-complementation group 1 enzyme as a novel predictive marker in patients receiving platinum-based chemotherapy in advanced bladder cancer

Abstract

Background Excision repair cross-complementation group 1 enzyme (ERCC1) expression is most probably associated with cisplatin resistance in different tumors, including bladder tumors. Predictive role of ERCC1 expression in the neoadjuvant setting in bladder cancer had been studied as this genetic testing could personalize the chemotherapy by selecting the patients who would benefit from platinum-based chemotherapy. Participants and methods This is a descriptive study that was conducted on 80 patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer who received platinum-based chemotherapy. Clinical and histopathologic parameters along with immunohistochemical ERCC1 staining were examined and correlated with response rates and survival. Results The study showed a significant relationship between treatment response and ERCC1 expression of tumor tissue samples ( P =0.013), indicating an association between negative immunoexpression and more favorable outcome. analysis of variance test revealed no significant difference neither between mean progression-free survival in different immunoexpression levels ( P =0.794) nor mean overall survival in different immunoexpression levels ( P =0.499). Conclusion Our study showed that there was a significant relationship between treatment response and ERCC1 expression of tumor tissue samples, although it did not show a significant difference between ERCC1 expression and mean overall survival or progression-free survival in different immunoexpression levels in patients with bladder cancer who received neoadjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy. ERCC1 may represent a potential predictive, but not prognostic, marker for platinum-based treatment in bladder cancer.