Background and objective: Excision repair cross-complementing 1 (Excision-Repair Cross-Complementing 1, ERCC1), an important member of the DNA repair gene family, plays a key role in nucleotide excision repair and apoptosis of tumor cells. Protein kinase C-alpha (Protein kinase C, PKCalpha), an isozyme in protein kinase C family, is an important signaling molecule in signal transduction pathways of tumors, which has been implicated in malignant transformation and proliferation. The aim of this study was to explore the clinical significance of ERCC1 and PKCalpha in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods: The expression of ERCC1 and PKCalpha were examined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in the specimens of 51 cases of NSCLC patients tissue and 21 cases of paracancerous tissue. The relationship between detected data and patients' clinical parameters was analyzed by SPSS 13.0 software.
Results: The positive expression rate of ERCC1 and PKCalpha in NSCLC tissues was significantly higher than paracancerous tissues (P < 0.05). Expression of ERCC1 was closely related to clinical stage and N stage. The positive rate of ERCC1 was higher in III+IV or N1+N2 stage patients compared with I+II or N0 stage (P = 0.011, P = 0.015). We also found that 5-year survival of negative group of ERCC1 was remarkably higher than that of positive group by chi2 test (P < 0.05). Expression of ERCC1 was positively correlative to PKCalpha by Spearman's correlation analysis (r = 0.425, P = 0.002) in NSCLC.
Conclusion: The results suggest ERCC1 and PKCalpha might be correlated with the development of NSCLC. ERCC1 might be related to prognosis of NSCLC. There might be existed a mechanism of coordination or regulation between ERCC1 and PKCalpha.
背景与目的: 剪切修复偶联因子1（Excision-Repair Cross-Complementing 1, ERCC1）是核苷酸外切修复家族中的重要成员，它在核酸损伤修复过程和凋亡过程中起着重要作用。蛋白激酶C-α（Protein kinase Calpha, PKCα）是蛋白激酶C（PKC）的一种同工酶，PKCα调控细胞的转化和增殖，是肿瘤细胞中重要的信号途径。本研究初步探索ERCC1和PKCα在非小细胞肺癌（non-small cell lung cancer, NSCLC）中表达所代表的临床意义。
方法: 运用免疫组化方法检测51例NSCLC组织、21例癌旁组织中ERCC1和PKCα的表达，并采用SPSS 13.0软件进行相关统计分析。
结果: ERCC1和PKCα在肿瘤组阳性率明显高于癌旁组（P < 0.05）；ERCC1与临床分期和N分期等因素有关，临床Ⅲ+Ⅳ期及N1-2期患者ERCC1阳性率要分别高于Ⅰ+Ⅱ期和N0期患者（P=0.011, P=0.015）；ERCC1阴性组的5年生存时间高于阳性组（P < 0.05）；Spearman相关分析提示ERCC1与PKCα之间存在正相关（r=0.425, P=0.002）。
结论: ERCC1和PKCα可能与NSCLC的发生相关，ERCC1可能与肿瘤的预后相关。ERCC1和PKCα之间可能存在共同作用通路。