The prognostic role of EZH2 expression in rectal cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy

Radiation Oncology

Jinming Yu²  Hongjiang Yan²  Shumei Jiang²  Kunli Zhu²  Rui Feng²  Xiaoqing Xu²  Huijuan Li¹  Yuhong Jiao²  Renben Wang²  Zhaoqin Huang³  Xiangjiao Meng² 

[1] Department of Medicine of Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Jinan, Shandong 250117, China;Department of Radiation Oncology of Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, No. 440 Jiyan Road, Jinan, Shandong 250117, China;Department of Radiology, Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, China

关键词: Prognosis;    Tumor response;    Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy;    EZH2;    Rectal cancer;   

Others  :  1151790
DOI  :  10.1186/1748-717X-9-188

 received in 2014-05-31, accepted in 2014-08-18,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) combined with surgery has been implemented as a standard treatment strategy in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). However, there is a wide spectrum of response to nCRT. The aim of this study was to determine whether enhancer of zeste homologue 2 (EZH2 ) expression could predict response to nCRT and outcomes for patients in LARC.

Method

The study examined the EZH2 expression in 112 biopsies by immohistochemistry. The associations between EZH2 and clinical characters were analyzed.

Results

EZH2 expression in biopsy tissue was significantly related to increased tumor cell proliferation, as assessed by Ki-67 expression with a cutoff value of 37% (p <0.001). High EZH2 expression was correlated closely with low differentiation (p = 0.029), high CEA level (p = 0.041), T4 status (p = 0.011) and node metastasis (p =0.045). By univariate and multivariate analysis, we observed low EZH2 expression could reliably and independently predict the good response to nCRT ( p = 0.026 and p = 0.023) and down-staging ( p = 0.021 and p = 0.027). In univariate analysis, high EZH2 expression was significantly associated with poor 5-year disease-free survival (p = 0.025) and 5-year overall survival (p = 0.032). In multivariate analysis, EZH2 was a prognostic factor for 5-year DFS (HR = 2.287; 95% CI 1.137-4.602, p = 0.020) but not for 5-year OS (HR = 2.182; 95% CI 0.940-5.364, p = 0.069).

Conclusion

Our study revealed that low EZH2 expression in biopsy tissue might be a useful predictive factor of good tumor response to nCRT and longer 5-year DFS in patients with LARC. However this is a relatively small retrospective study, to further validate the role of EZH2 in rectal cancer, large consistent cohort studies are needed.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Meng et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

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