Expression of excision repair cross-complementation group 1 as predictive marker for nasopharyngeal cancer treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy

Purpose: Cisplatin-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy is the standard treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer. The expression of excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1) has been reported to be associated with resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy. We evaluated whether ERCC1 expression could predict the treatment response and survival outcome of patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal cancer who were treated with cisplatin-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Methods and Materials: Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the expression of ERCC1 in nasopharyngeal tumor tissue. Patients were categorized into either a resistant or sensitive group depending on their treatment response outcome. A total of 77 patients were assessed in the present study. Results: The resistant and sensitive groups included 25 and 52 patients, respectively. ERCC1 expression was positive in the tumor tissue for 39 of the 77 patients (51%). Significantly more ERCC1-negative tumors were in the sensitive group than in the resistant group (p = .035). In terms of survival outcome, univariate analysis determined that patients with ERCC1-negative tumors had longer disease-free survival (p = .076) and overall survival (p = .013) than patients with ERCC1-positive tumors. Multivariate analysis determined that negative ERCC expression in tumors was an independent predictor for prolonged overall survival (hazard ratio, 0.14; 95% confidence interval, 0.03-0.71). Conclusion: These results suggest that ERCC1 expression might be a useful predictive marker in patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal cancer who are under consideration for cisplatin-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy.