Genetic variability of ERCC1 and ERCC2 genes involved in the nucleotide excision repair pathway influences the treatment outcome of gastric cancer.

We conducted a prospective study to investigate whether ERCC1 rs11615 and rs3212986 and ERCC2 rs13181 and rs1799793 gene polymorphisms could serve as potential biomarkers for the prognosis of gastric cancer. Between January 2010 and December 2012, 246 patients with pathologically proven gastric cancer who were receiving platinum-based chemotherapy were recruited from the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University. The genotyping of the gene polymorphisms was conducted using the polymerase chain reaction coupled with restriction fragment length polymorphism. By logistic regression analysis, we found that the AA genotype of ERCC1 rs3212986 was associated with lower rates of complete remission and partial remission following chemotherapy in gastric cancer patients, and the OR (95%CI) was 0.19 (0.06-0.60). We found that the AA genotype of rs3212986 was correlated with higher risk of death from gastric cancer according to the Cox proportional hazards model, and the adjusted HR (95%CI) was 1.60 (0.81-3.16). However, we found no association between ERCC1 rs11615, ERCC2 rs13181, and ERCC2 rs1799793 and overall survival of gastric cancer. In conclusion, the results of the present retrospective study indicate that the ERCC1 rs3212986 gene polymorphism has a significant effect on the pharmacokinetics and treatment outcome of gastric cancer.

Analysis of biochemical compounds and differentially expressed genes of the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway in variegated peach flowers.

Variegated plants are highly valuable in the floricultural market, yet the genetic mechanism underlying this attractive phenomenon has not been completely elucidated. In this study, we identified and measured different compounds in pink and white flower petals of peach (Prunus persica) by high-performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry analyses. No cyanidin-based or pelargonidin-based compounds were detected in white petals, but high levels of these compounds were found in pink petals. Additionally, we sequenced and analyzed the expression of six key structural genes in the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway (CHI, CHS, DFR, F3'H, ANS, and UFGT) in both white and pink petals. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed all six genes to be expressed at greatly reduced levels in white flower petals, relative to pink. No allelic variations were found in the transcribed sequences. However, alignment of transcribed and genomic sequences of the ANS gene detected alternative splicing, resulting in transcripts of 1.071 and 942 bp. Only the longer transcript was observed in white flower petals. Since ANS is the key intermediate enzyme catalyzing the colorless leucopelargonidin and leucocyanidin to substrates required for completion of anthocyanin biosynthesis, the ANS gene is implicated in flower color variegation and should be explored in future studies. This article, together with a previous transcriptome study, elucidates the mechanism underlying peach flower color variegation in terms of the key structural genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis.