Expression of excision repair cross-complementation group 1 in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with cisplatin-based induction chemotherapy

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the expression of excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1) in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated with cisplatin-based induction chemotherapy. Methods: Eighty-five patients with locoregionally advanced NPC treated with cisplatin-based induction chemotherapy were included in this study. The expression level of ERCC1 protein in cancer tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry, and the expression level was divided into the high- and low-expression groups according to their expression level. The objective response rate (ORR) and the long-term disease control rate of two groups were compared between the two groups. Results: The expression level of ERCC1 in NPC tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry. Forty-one cases had the high ERCC1 expression, and 44 cases had the low ERCC1 expression. The cases for complete response, partial response, stable disease, and progression disease were 1, 19, 21 in the ERCC1 high expression group and 3, 29, 12 for the ERCC1 low-expression group which indicated that the ORR in ERCC1 low group were significant higher than that of ERCC1 high expression group (P < 0.05). The 5-year overall survival, 5-year disease-free survival (DFS), and 5-year local recurrence-DFS were not statistical different between two group (P < 0.05); but the 5-year distant-DFS for ERCC1 low group were significant higher than ERCC1 high group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Cisplatin-induced short-term ORR was decreased in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients with high ERCC1 expression, which increased the risk of metastasis.