ERCC1 (Excision repair crosscomplementing 1) expression in pT2 gallbladder cancer is a prognostic factor

Abstract

Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is the main cause of death by malignant tumour in women in Chile. There is no information regarding the role of excision repair cross-complementing group 1 (ERCC1) in GBC. Our aim is to determine the expression and significance of ERCC1 as a prognostic factor in GBC. Tissue microarrays were prepared using 200 surgically resected GBCs and 50 non-malignant gallbladders as controls. In 190 cases, ERCC1 was determined by immunohistochemistry. The correlation between ERCC1 expression and GBC pathological characteristics and patient survival were analysed. Ninety-five percent of the non-malignant gallbladder epithelia showed intense and diffuse ERCC1 expression. GBC cases showed ERCC1 expression in the tumour cells in 100/190 (53%) cases. The best differentiated tumours showed significantly greater expression than the less differentiated (p<0.05). Patients with ERCC1- positive status with subserosal carcinomas (pT2) had significantly better survival than ERCC1-negative patients at 20 and 60 months of follow-up (p=0.005), and the probability of dying was 6 times lower for ERCC1-positive than for ERCC1-negative patients. Our preliminary results show that cholecystectomised patients with GBC in stage pT2 and with ERCC1 expression have significantly better survival than patients at the same stage that did not present ERCC1 expression.