The prognostic value of gene expressions of ERCVC1 and RRM1 in non small cell lung cancer

Purpose: Despite the several improvements in diagnosis and treatment, non small cell lung cancer is the most common leading cause of death due to cancer in the world. New molecular markers are needed to predict the prognosis and to make the treatment benefit more better. ERCC1 is the DNA damage repair gene that encodes 5?endonuclease of nucleotide excision repair complex, and RRM1 is the gene that encodes the regulatory subunit of ribonucleotide reductase. It has been researched the roles of these genes in prediction of prognosis of lung cancer patients and response to chemotherapy. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of ERCC1 and RRM1 gene expressions profiles on the prediction of the prognosis and the treatment resistance in NSCLC patients.Material and methods: In our study, RRM1 and ERCC1 gene expression profiles were examined by RT-PCR method on the bronchoscopic biopsies of advanced stage NSCLC patients.Results: The mean age of the patients in the study was 59.8 ± 9.3 (years ± SD) . The levels of gene expressions of ERCC1 and RRM1 were found to be 2-9 (median 49). and 1.3- 17.7 (median 6.8). No significant difference was detected between ERCC1 and RRM1 levels and age, gender, histologic type, ECOG, weight loss when the median gene expression levels were used as cut off value. Also, no significant difference was not observed for survival analysis between the patients that have low ERCC1 mRNA level (median: 5 months, p=0.41). In addition, no significant difference was detected for the survival analysis between the patients that have the low and high RRM1 m RNA levels (p=0.43). When the survival analyses were evaluated between the patients who had chemotherapy and who did not; no significant difference was detected according to ERRC1 and RRM1 levels.Conclusion: In our study, no statistacally important relation is determined between the ERCC1 and RRM1 gene expression levels and prognosis and resistance to therapy in NSCLC patients. We suggest that more expanded serial studies are needed to clarify the role of ERCC1 and RRM1 gene expressions in the treatment resistance and benefits in the prognosis of NSCLC.Key words: Non small cell lung cancer, ERRC1, RRM1