Association between epidermal growth factor receptor mutations and the expression of excision repair cross-complementing protein 1 and ribonucleotide reductase subunit M1 mRNA in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

The present study aimed to investigate the association between epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations and excision repair cross-complementing protein 1 (ERCC1) and ribonucleotide reductase subunit M1 (RRM1) mRNA expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissue. The quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to detect EGFR mutations, and ERCC1 and RRM1 mRNA expression in 257 cases of NSCLC. In the NSCLC samples the EGFR mutation rate was 49.03% (126/257). The rate was higher in females and non-smoking patients (P<0.05). High expression of ERCC1 mRNA was observed in 47.47% of the samples (122/257), while a high RRM1 mRNA expression was observed in 61.87% of the samples (159/257). In comparison with patients with NSCLC without EGFR mutations, patients with EGFR mutations had significantly lower levels of ERCC1 mRNA expression (P<0.05); however, EGFR mutations and expression levels of RRM1 mRNA were not correlated in NSCLC tissues (P>0.05). In addition, ERCC1 mRNA expression was not correlated with the expression levels of RRM1 mRNA (P>0.05). In conclusion, patients with NSCLC with EGFR mutations tend to have a low expression of ERCC1 mRNA and may potentially benefit from platinum-based chemotherapy.