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Lung cancer chemotherapy resistance linked to systemic DNA repair capacity  

In patients with non-small-cell lung cancer, an effective DNA repair capacity (DRC) appears to be associated with poorer survival after treatment with chemotherapy, according to a report from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Dr. Margaret R. Spitz and associates collected blood samples from 375 patients within 4 months of diagnosis, prior to initiation of therapy. Patients were enrolled in the study between July 1995 and December 1999; followup was completed in October of 2001. The investigators measured DRC using a host cell reactivation assay in which the activity of lymphocyte chloramphenicol acetyl transferase gene was analyzed.

As reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute for July 17, DRC was unrelated to stage of disease or tumor histology, suggesting that "the general health of the patients did not contribute to the variability in DRC," the authors write. Furthermore, DRC had no effect on the relative risk of death among patients who received chemotherapy and those who did not.

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