Abstract
BACKGROUND: p73, a structural and functional homolog of p53, plays an important role in modulating cell cycle arrest. This study investigated the association between p73 G4C14-to-A4T14 polymorphism and survival outcomes in a Chinese population of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with platinum agents. METHODS: The p73 G4C14-to-A4T14 polymorphism was genotyped using DNA from blood samples of advanced NSCLC patients (642 in the discovery set and 330 in the replication set). The relationship of the p73 G4C14-to-A4T14 polymorphism with clinical outcomes was analyzed. RESULTS: Compared with the GC/GC genotype, the genotypes containing AT allele (GC/AT + AT/AT genotypes) were associated with significantly prolonged overall survival (P = 0.040) in the discovery set and after pooling results from the replication set. Stratification analysis revealed that the association was more pronounced in subjects who were older (P = 0.001), male (P = 0.007), smokers (P = 0.006), had a low Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (P = 0.001), in tumor node metastasis stage IV (P = 0.008), and with adenocarcinoma (P = 0.002). The objective response rates of patients with GC/AT + AT/AT genotypes were statistically higher than those with the GC/GC genotype (P = 0.047). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the p73 G4C14-to-A4T14 polymorphism may be related to survival outcome in advanced NSCLC patients.