ERCC1 Expression Is Not Predictive in Lung Cancer

Expression of excision repair cross-complementation group 1 in tumor tissue does not predict the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.

The excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1) protein plays an important role in repairing DNA damage. Prior studies, including the International Adjuvant Lung Cancer Trial Biology (IALT Bio) study (N Engl J Med 2006; 355:983), have shown that high tumor levels of ERCC1 predicted a benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with resected non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, questions have been raised in other studies about the value of ERCC1 testing in this setting.

Now, the IALT Bio investigators have reassessed the predictive value of ERCC1 expression using samples obtained from 494 NSCLC patients in two separate phase III trials of postoperative cisplatin-based chemotherapy: the National Cancer Institute of Canada (N…

Reviewing Author

Ramaswamy Govindan, MD