ERCC1 Codon 118 Polymorphism Is a Predictive Factor for the Tumor Response to Oxaliplatin/5-Fluorouracil Combination Chemotherapy in Patients with Advanced Colorectal Cancer

Abstract
Purpose: The aim of our study was to assess whether the polymorphism of the nucleotide excision repair enzyme, excision repair cross-complementing rodent repair deficiency, complementation group 1 (ERCC1), had an effect on the tumor response in patients treated with standard chemotherapy regimens for a metastatic colorectal cancer. We have studied the synonymous polymorphism that causes a single nucleotide change C to T at codon 118 converting a codon of common usage (AAC) to a less used codon (AAT), both coding asparagine. This change results in a decreased ERCC1 gene expression, which impairs repair activity.