Study of single nucleotide polymorphisms of FBW7 and its substrate genes revealed a predictive factor for paclitaxel plus cisplatin chemotherapy in Chinese patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Paclitaxel plays a major role in the treatment of advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. However, there is no biomarker that could be used to predict the clinical response of paclitaxel. This work was conducted to investigate the association of genetic polymorphisms in FBW7 and its substrate genes and the clinical response of paclitaxel. Patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma were treated with paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 over 3 hours day 1 and cisplatin 75 mg/m2 day 1, every 3 weeks. The genotypes of 11 FBW7 and its substrate gene polymorphisms were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Statistical analysis revealed that patients with mTOR rs1057079 AG (ORadjusted: 4.59; 95% CI: 1.78-11.86) genotype had significant correlation with the clinical response of paclitaxel when compared with AA genotype after adjustment for sex, age, and chemotherapy cycle. The median progression-free survival (PFS) of patients with advanced ESCC who received paclitaxel plus cisplatin (TP) as first-line treatment is 14.3 months (95% CI: 9.0-19.60 months). The median PFS (mPFS) of AG genotypes and AA genotypes in mTOR rs1057079 were 17.31 months (95% CI: 15.9-18.67 months) and 9.8 months (95% CI: 8.58-11.02 months) (p=0.019), respectively.