Gene Expression Associated with Variation in Drug Response to Oxaliplatin and Clinical Outcomes in Colorectal Cancer Patients.

Oxaliplatin (OXAL) is a commonly used chemotherapy for treating colorectal cancer (CRC). A recent genome wide association study (GWAS) showed that a genetic variant (rs11006706) in the lncRNA gene and partnered sense gene could impact the response of genetically varied cell lines to OXAL treatment. This study found that the expression levels of and in lymphocytes (LCLs) and CRC cell lines differed between the rs11006706 genotypes, indicating that this gene pair could play a role in OXAL response. Further analysis of patient survival data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and other sources showed that patients with high expression status had significantly worse overall survival (HR = 3.2; 95%CI = (1.17-9); = 0.024) compared to cases with low expression status. Alternatively, high expression status had significantly better overall survival (HR = 0.22; 95%CI = (0.07-0.7); = 0.01) compared to cases with low expression status. These results suggest an association between and expression status that could be useful as a prognostic marker of response to OXAL and potential patient outcomes in CRC.