ERCC1_202 Is A Prognostic Biomarker in Advanced Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Treated with Platinum-Based Chemotherapy

Purpose: To develop a qPCR method to examine the 202 isoform of excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1_ 202) and to evaluate its clinical utility as a predictive biomarker for platinum-based chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: The relative complementary DNA (cDNA) quantification for ERCC1_ 202 was conducted using a fluorescence-based, real-time detection method and beta-actin was used as a reference gene. Results: A strong correlation was observed between ERCC1_ 202 mRNA and ERCC1 mRNA levels in NSCLC cells (P < 0.001). 28 patients completed this research. Our results implied that as ERCC1_ 202 levels increased, the risk of progression (HR = 4.296, P = 0.011) and death (HR = 6.503, P = 0.001) increased. At multivariate analysis, high expression of ERCC1_ 202 was shown to be an independent predictive factor for time to progression (P = 0.047), and progression-free survival (P = 0.014). However, the high expression of ERCC1_ 202 was not an independent predictive factor for response (P = 0.324). Conclusions: This study suggests that the efficacy of platinum-based chemotherapy can be improved when customized according to the expression of ERCC1_ 202.