The prognostic value of excision repair cross‑complementing Group 1 expression in nasopharyngeal cancer patients

Background: overexpression of excision repair cross‑complementing group 1 (ercc‑1) is related to cisplatin resistance and defective repair of radiation damage. the purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of excision (ercc‑1) expression in nasopharyngeal cancer (npc). materials and methods: we conducted a retrospective review of patients diagnosed with npc between 2000 and 2013. the archived tissues were analyzed using immunohistochemistry to determine ercc‑1 expression. the ercc‑1 expression level along with other clinical factors and overall survival (os) were analyzed. hazard ratio (hr) with a 95% confidence interval was calculated to assess the risk. results: the analysis of ercc‑1 expression was available in 262 npc patients who had medical records at our hospital. among those patients, 221 (84%) were treated with curative radiotherapy (rt)/concurrent chemoradiotherapy, 22 (7%) were treated with palliative rt alone, and 19 (9%) were given best supportive care. there was no correlation between ercc‑1 expression and stage of cancer or os. no difference in 5‑year os was found between patients with low ercc‑1 expression and high ercc‑1 expression (38% vs. 36%; p = 0.981). the adjusted hr (ahr) of cancer death increased with cancer stage (ahr = 2.93 for advanced stages iii–iv; p = 0.001) and age (ahr = 2.11 for age >55; p ≤ 0.001). ercc‑1 expression exhibited no prognostic significance in our study (ahr = 1). conclusion: in this study, ercc‑1 expression has no statistical significance to be considered a prognostic factor for os among npc patients. on the other hand, cancer stage, age, and types of treatment can be prognostic factors in npc patients.