RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Messenger-RNA Expression of Five Gemcitabine Sensitivity-related Genes Predicting Outcome in Advanced-stage Non-small Cell Lung Cancer JF Anticancer Research JO Anticancer Res FD International Institute of Anticancer Research SP 901 OP 913 DO 10.21873/anticanres.14023 VO 40 IS 2 A1 GEORGIOS IOANNIDIS A1 CHARA PAPADAKI A1 ELENI LAGOUDAKI A1 MARIA TZARDI A1 MARIA TRYPAKI A1 EFSTATHIOS STATHOPOULOS A1 DIMITRIOS MAVROUDIS A1 VASSILIOS GEORGOULIAS A1 JOHN SOUGLAKOS YR 2020 UL http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/40/2/901.abstract AB Background/Aim: Tumoural transcriptional levels of RRM1, RRM2, CDA, dCK and hENT1 genes are potential biomarkers for gemcitabine's efficacy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients and Methods: We retrospectively analysed each gene's relative mRNA expression by quantitative, real-time polymerase chain reaction in microdissected, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary-tumour specimens from 219 chemonaïve patients with advanced-stage NSCLC, treated with gemcitabine-based regimens within clinical trials. The five genes' transcriptional patterns were integrated into an ordinal, five-level gemcitabine-susceptibility classifier (5L-GSC). Results: Treatment efficacy increased progressively across the five susceptibility levels, with the very-high chemosensitivity cases obtaining the most clinical benefit. 5L-GSC emerged as an independent prognosticator for overall response and disease control rates, time to progression and overall survival at p-values of 0.03, 0.004, <0.001 and <0.001, respectively, with results remaining significant after bootstrapping. Penalised, optimally-scaled, categorical-regression modelling of overall response identified 5L-GSC as the most stable predictor. Conclusion: The proposed composite biomarker is promising for customising front-line chemotherapy in NSCLC.