[ERCC1 and TS expression in chemoradiotherapy treated esophageal squamous cell carcinoma].

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine whether the expressions of excision repair cross-complementing-1 (ERCC1) and thymidylate synthase (TS) predict the clinical outcome of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated with CDDP/5-FU chemoradiotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Fifteen patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma underwent CDDP/5-FU chemoradiotherapy. Immunohistochemical staining for ERCC1 and TS was performed using endoscopic biopsy specimens obtained prior to chemoradiotherapy. We then evaluated the response to treatment. The MIB-1 index, and the expressions of p53, p21, bax and bcl-2 were also investigated. RESULTS: ERCC1 expression was strongly detected in all of the cases. No significant relationship was observed between the response to treatment and the intensity of staining, or the percentage of cells stained. The MIB-1 index and the expressions of p53, p21, bax and bcl-2 were not associated with the response to chemoradiotherapy. CONCLUSION: In the present study, we found that the expressions of ERCC1 and TS were not suitable as predictors of the response to chemoradiotherapy.