Objective： The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase （MTHFR） C677T excision repair cross-complementation group 1 （ERCC1） genetic polymorphisms and the clinical efficacy of gemcitabine-based chemotherapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer （NSCLC）. Methods： A total of 135 chemonaive patients with unresectable advanced NSCLC were treated with gemcitabine/platinum regi- mens. The polymorphisms of MTHFR C677T, ERCC1 C8092A, and ERCC1 Cl18T were genotyped using the TaqMan methods. Results： The overall response rate was 28.9%. Patients with MTHFR CC genotype had a higher rate of objective response than patients with variant genotype （TT or CT） （41.2% versus 19.1%, P=0.01 ）. Median time to progression （TTP） of patients with MTHFR CC genotype was longer than that of patients with variant genotype （7.6 months versus 5.0 months, P=0.003）. No significant associations were obtained between ERCC1 C118T and C8092A polymorphisms and both response and survival. Conclusions： Our data suggest the value of MTHFR C677T polymorphism as a possible predictive marker of response and TTP in advanced NSCLC patients treated with gemcitabine/platinum.
Objective： Mitogen-activated protein kinases （MAPKs） are correlated with a more malignant phenotype in many cancers. This study was designed to evaluate the predictive value of the expression of MAPK phosphatase-1 （MKP-1） and phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 （p-ERKl/2）, as the key regulatory mechanism of the MAPKs, in lung squamous cell carcinoma （SCC）. Methods： We assessed the expressions of MKP-1 and p-ERK1/2 in twenty subjects at different differentiation degree of SCC and five normal lungs by immunohistochemistry and real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction （RT-PCR） analysis. Results： Immunohistochemistry and real-time RT-PCR assay showed that the expression of MKP-1 was gradually decreased as tissue type went from normal lung tissues to increasingly undifferentiated carcinoma, and it was negatively correlated with tumor differentiation （P〈0.01）. However, the expression of p-ERK1/2 or ERKl/2 was gradually increased as tissue type went from normal lung tissues to increasingly undifferentiated carcinoma, and it was positively correlated with tumor differentiation （P〈0.01）. Conclusions： Our data indicates the relevance of MKP-1 and p-ERK1/2 in SCC as a potential positive and negative prognostic factor. The imbalanced expression of MKP-1 and p-ERKl/2 may play a role in the development of SCC and these two molecules may be new targets for the therapy and prognosis of SCC.
Kai WANGMin ZHANGYing-ying QIANZhe-vuan DINGJun-hui LVHua-hao SHEN
