Abstract
INTRODUCTION: We evaluated the role of glutathione-related genotypes on overall survival, time to progression, adverse events, and quality of life (QOL) in stage IIIB/IV non-small cell lung cancer patients who were stable or responding from initial treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy and subsequently randomized to receive daily oral carboxyaminoimidazole or a placebo. METHODS: Of the 186 total patients, 113 had initial treatment with platinum therapy and DNA samples of whom 46 also had QOL data. These samples were analyzed using six polymorphic DNA markers that encode five important enzymes in the glutathione metabolic pathway. Patient QOL was assessed using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung and the UNISCALE QOL questionnaires. A clinically significant decline in QOL was defined as a 10% decrease from baseline to week-8. Multivariate analyses were used to evaluate the association of the genotypes on the four endpoints. RESULTS: Patients carrying a GCLC 77 genotype had a worse overall survival (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.5, p = 0.05). Patients carrying the GPX1-CC genotype had a clinically significant decline in the UNISCALE (odds ratio (OR): 7.5; p = 0.04), total Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung score (OR: 11.0; p = 0.04), physical (OR: 7.1; p = 0.03), functional (OR: 5.2; p = 0.04), and emotional well-being constructs (OR: 23.8; p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Genotypes of glutathione-related enzymes, especially GCLC, may be used as host factors in predicting patients' survival after platinum-based chemotherapy. GPX1 may be an inherited factor in predicting patients' QOL. Further investigation to define and measure the effects of these genes in chemotherapeutic regimens, drug toxicities, disease progression, and QOL are critical.