Glutathione S-transferase P1 and DNA polymorphisms influence response to chemotherapy and prognosis of bone tumors.

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone malignancy in children and adolescents, and its clinical outcome is poor. We evaluated the influence of GSTP1, ERCC1 and ERCC2 polymorphisms on response to chemotherapy among osteosarcoma patients, and the significnace of these genes for prognosis. A total of 187 patients with osteosarcoma were administered methotrexate, cisplatin/adriamycin, actinomycin D, cyclophosphamide, or vincristine. GSTP1, ERCC1 and ERCC2 polymorphisms were genotyped by PCR-RFLP assay. The results showed the average survival time of 187 patients were 38.4 months. Some 97 patients showed response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The GSTP1 Val and ERCC2 A/A genotypes had significantly higher rates of response to chemotherapy, with adjusted OR (95% CI) of 2.19 (1.15-6.21) and 2.88 (1.14-13.3). Individuals with the ERCC2 A/A genotype were likely to have a lower risk of death from oseosarcoma, and the adjusted HR was 0.32 (0.13-0.95). Our study indicated that GSTP1 and ERCC2 Lys751Gln polymorphisms might be candidate pharmacogenomic factors to be explored in the future to identify osteosarcoma patients who might benefit from chemotherapy.