OBJECTIVES:

To study the relationship between the Asp1104His polymorphism of the nucleotide excision repair gene ERCC5 and treatment sensitivity to oxaliplatin in patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) in China.

METHODS:

A group of 226 patients in the Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Zhejiang Xiaoshan Hospital from July 2011∼December 2016 and a control group of 226 normal healthy individuals were involved in this study. All patients were first diagnosed with advanced CRC and were treated with oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy. The genotype of ERCC5 at the site of amino acid 1104 was determined by a TaqMan probe-based real-time PCR approach.

RESULTS:

There were no differences in age or gender between the groups, but the percentages of smokers and individuals with a family history of cancer were significantly higher in the patient group than in the control group. Analysis of the G/C polymorphism frequency among the patients and the healthy controls showed that the frequencies of the CC genotype and the CC+GC genotype were significantly related to CRC, but no significant difference in these frequencies was found between genders. The analysis of the relationship between the 5-year survival rate and different genotypes showed that in the total patient group, regardless of gender, the 5-year survival rate was significantly associated with the Asp1104His polymorphism of ERCC5.

CONCLUSIONS:

The Asp1104His polymorphism of ERCC5 was associated with the risk and 5-year survival rate of CRC as well as treatment sensitivity to oxaliplatin.