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Original Article
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Volume 349:247-257 July 17, 2003 Number 3
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Tumor Microsatellite-Instability Status as a Predictor of Benefit from Fluorouracil-Based Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Colon Cancer
Christine M. Ribic, M.Sc., Daniel J. Sargent, Ph.D., Malcolm J. Moore, M.D., Stephen N. Thibodeau, Ph.D., Amy J. French, B.A., Richard M. Goldberg, M.D., Stanley R. Hamilton, M.D., Pierre Laurent-Puig, M.D., Ph.D., Robert Gryfe, M.D., Ph.D., Lois E. Shepherd, M.D., Dongsheng Tu, Ph.D., Mark Redston, M.D., and Steven Gallinger, M.D.

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ABSTRACT

Background Colon cancers with high-frequency microsatellite instability have clinical and pathological features that distinguish them from microsatellite-stable tumors. We investigated the usefulness of microsatellite-instability status as a predictor of the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy with fluorouracil in stage II and stage III colon cancer.

Methods Tumor specimens were collected from patients with colon cancer who were enrolled in randomized trials of fluorouracil-based adjuvant chemotherapy. Microsatellite instability was assessed with the use of mononucleotide and dinucleotide markers.

Results Of 570 tissue specimens, 95 (16.7 percent) exhibited high-frequency microsatellite instability. Among 287 patients who did not receive adjuvant therapy, those with tumors displaying high-frequency microsatellite instability had a better five-year rate of overall survival than patients with tumors exhibiting microsatellite stability or low-frequency instability (hazard ratio for death, 0.31 [95 percent confidence interval, 0.14 to 0.72]; P=0.004). Among patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy, high-frequency microsatellite instability was not correlated with increased overall survival (hazard ratio for death, 1.07 [95 percent confidence interval, 0.62 to 1.86]; P=0.80). The benefit of treatment differed significantly according to the microsatellite-instability status (P=0.01). Adjuvant chemotherapy improved overall survival among patients with microsatellite-stable tumors or tumors exhibiting low-frequency microsatellite instability, according to a multivariate analysis adjusted for stage and grade (hazard ratio for death, 0.72 [95 percent confidence interval, 0.53 to 0.99]; P=0.04). By contrast, there was no benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy in the group with high-frequency microsatellite instability.

Conclusions Fluorouracil-based adjuvant chemotherapy benefited patients with stage II or stage III colon cancer with microsatellite-stable tumors or tumors exhibiting low-frequency microsatellite instability but not those with tumors exhibiting high-frequency microsatellite instability.


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From the Centre for Cancer Genetics, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute (C.M.R., R.G., S.G.), the Department of Medicine and Surgery, Princess Margaret Hospital (M.J.M., S.G.), and the Department of Surgery, Mount Sinai Hospital (R.G., S.G.), University of Toronto, Toronto; the Division of Biostatistics (D.J.S.), the Division of Medical Oncology (R.M.G.), and the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology (S.N.T., A.J.F.), Mayo Foundation, Rochester, Minn.; the Clinical Trials Group, National Cancer Institute of Canada, Queen's University, Kingston, Ont. (M.J.M., L.E.S., D.T., S.G.); the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, Brookline, Mass. (S.R.H.); the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston (S.R.H.); the Fédération Francophone de Cancérologie Digestive, Paris (P.L.-P.); and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston (M.R.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Gallinger at Mount Sinai Hospital, 600 University Ave., Suite 1225, Toronto, ON M5G 1X5, Canada, or at sgallinger{at}mtsinai.on.ca.

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Related Letters:

Microsatellite Instability in Colon Cancer
Allegra C. J., Kim G., Kirsch I. R., Iacopetta B., Elsaleh H., Zeps N., Jimenez J. J., Blanes A., Diaz-Cano S. J., Gryfe R., Ribic C. M., Sargent D. J.
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N Engl J Med 2003; 349:1774-1776, Oct 30, 2003. Correspondence

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