ERCC1 (excision repair cross-complementing 1) expression in pT2 gallbladder cancer is a prognostic factor.

Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is the main cause of death by malignant tumour in women in Chile. There is no information regarding the role of excision repair cross-complementing group 1 (ERCC1) in GBC. Our aim is to determine the expression and significance of ERCC1 as a prognostic factor in GBC. Tissue microarrays were prepared using 200 surgically resected GBCs and 50 non-malignant gallbladders as controls. In 190 cases, ERCC1 was determined by immunohistochemistry. The correlation between ERCC1 expression and GBC pathological characteristics and patient survival were analysed. Ninety-five percent of the non-malignant gallbladder epithelia showed intense and diffuse ERCC1 expression. GBC cases showed ERCC1 expression in the tumour cells in 100/190 (53%) cases. The best differentiated tumours showed significantly greater expression than the less differentiated (p<0.05). Patients with ERCC1-positive status with subserosal carcinomas (pT2) had significantly better survival than ERCC1-negative patients at 20 and 60 months of follow-up (p=0.005), and the probability of dying was 6 times lower for ERCC1-positive than for ERCC1-negative patients. Our preliminary results show that chole-cystectomised patients with GBC in stage pT2 and with ERCC1 expression have significantly better survival than patients at the same stage that did not present ERCC1 expression.