P73 G4C14‐to‐A4T14 polymorphism is associated with survival in advanced non‐small cell lung cancer patients

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.