Role of excision repair cross-complementation 1 expression as a prognostic marker for response to radiotherapy in early-stage laryngeal cancer.

BACKGROUND: High expression of excision repair cross-complementation 1 (ERCC1) predicts for resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. We evaluated the prognostic value of ERCC1 expression in a cohort of laryngeal cancer treated with radiotherapy alone. METHODS: ERCC1 expression was examined by immunohistochemical analysis of tissue microarrays constructed from 123 patients with stages I-II laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma treated with standard radiotherapy. RESULTS: ERCC1 expression did not correlate with clinicopathologic risk factors, local control, or overall survival. At 5 years, local control was 75% versus 71% (p = .78) and overall survival was 68% versus 54% (p = .65), for nonexpressors and expressors of ERCC1, respectively. On multivariate analysis, T classification predicted for local control, and T classification and age predicted for overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: ERCC1 expression did not predict for radiotherapy resistance or worse survival. Therefore, radiotherapy remains an effective treatment in tumors with high ERCC1 expression.