DNA Repair Genes and Outcomes in Patients With Stage III NSCLC

The studied materials contains surgically specimens of two groups of patiens with non-small cell lung cancer who have received two regimens of induction (neoadjuvant) chemotherapy before tumor resection. Pathological specimens of pre-chemotherapy and post-chemotherapy whatever retrievable will be collected. The protein ad RNA expression of DNA repair genes (ERCC1, ERCC2, XRCC1, XRCC3, BRCA1 and RRM1) as well as DNA polymorphisms of these genes will be studied, and will be correlate with the treatment response and outcome of the patients. The aims of this study include: 1. To identify the expression status of the above DNA repair genes in Taiwanese NSCLC patients. 2. To correlate the expression, as well as DNA polymorphism of each DNA repair gene in treatment response to two differenct chemotherapeutic regimens. 3. To correlate the expression, as well as DNA polymorphism of each DNA repair gene in the outcome of stage III NSCLC patients. 4. To explore whether platinum based chemotherapy will change the expression status of DNA repair gene and if indeed changed, whether this would influence the outcome of the patients