Cancers, 2020.12(4), 800-0, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers12040800

A Nine-Gene Signature for Predicting the Response to Preoperative Chemoradiotherapy in Patients with Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer

Park I, Yu Y;Mustafa B;Park J;Seo Y;Kim GD;Kim J;Kim C;Noh H;Hong SM;Kim Y;Kim MJ;Ansari A;Buonaguro L;Ahn S;Yu CS

Abstract

Preoperative chemoradiotherapy (PCRT) and subsequent surgery is the standard multimodal treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC), albeit PCRT response varies among the individuals. This creates a dire necessity to identify a predictive model to forecast treatment response outcomes and identify patients who would benefit from PCRT. In this study, we performed a gene expression study using formalin-fixed para n-embedded (FFPE) tumor biopsy samples from 156 LARC patients (training cohort n = 60; validation cohort n = 96); we identified the nine-gene signature (FGFR3, GNA11, H3F3A, IL12A, IL1R1, IL2RB, NKD1, SGK2, and SPRY2) that distinctively di erentiated responders from non-responders in the training cohort (accuracy = 86.9%, specificity = 84.8%, sensitivity = 81.5%) as well as in an independent validation cohort (accuracy = 81.0%, specificity = 79.4%, sensitivity = 82.3%). The signature was independent of all pathological and clinical features and was robust in predicting PCRT response. It is readily applicable to the clinical setting using FFPE samples and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved hardware and reagents. Predicting the response to PCRT may aid in tailored therapies for respective responders to PCRT and improve the oncologic outcomes for LARC patients.

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers12040800
• ISBN or ISSN: 2072-6694

• 본 연구는 질병관리본부 연구개발과제연구비를 지원받아 수행되었습니다.
• This research was supported by a fund by Research of Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.