Abstract

This study was undertaken to examine whether there is an association between excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1) and xeroderma pigmentosum D (XPD) protein expression levels and response to platinum-based chemotherapy in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). The study cohort consisted of 91 consecutive patients suffering from stage III or IV disease of primary EOC from 1999 to 2004 at the Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University. There were 36 sensitive cases of serous ovarian cancer, 27 resistant cases of serous ovarian cancer, 15 cases of clear cell cancer, and 13 cases with serous ovarian cancer receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The ovarian tissue microsections were stained by standard immunohistochemical techniques to show ERCC1 and XPD protein expression levels. In resistance group of serous ovarian cancer, ERCC1 and XPD protein expression levels were significantly higher than those of sensitivity group, and after receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy, they showed 23% and 32% higher than before. Meanwhile, their levels of clear cell cancer group were significantly higher than serous ovarian cancer group's. Upregulation of ERCC1 and XPD protein expression was associated with resistance process to platinum-based chemotherapy in advanced EOC. This study provided evidence that differences of nucleotide excision repair–related genes expression may have an effect on the observed differences in clinical behavior of EOC