Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - National Cancer Institute - Department of Medical Oncology

Patients and methods: A prospective longitudinal study has been conducted in NCI (National Cancer Institute) medical oncology department in outpatient setting, in the period between June 2012 and July 2014. The study included 70 patients with pathologically proven advanced (stage IIIB and IV) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with cisplatin and gemcitabine. FATS gene expression was measured before starting the treatment. The primary end point was overall response rate (ORR) while the secondary end point was progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).Results: Seventy patients were assessed and included in the trial. Thirteen patients achieved partial response while 13 patients achieved stable disease and the rest had a progressive disease. The overall response rate was statistically significant (p-value 0.031) for the high FATS expression group. The median PFS was 4.1 months (95% CI 2.1-6.2) in the low expression group and 3.8 months (95% CI 3.3-4.3) in the high expression group (p-value 0.442) while median OS was 6.9 months (95% CI 5.4-8.3) in the high expression group and 4.5 months (95% CI 3.7-5.3) in the low expression group (p-value 0.031)Conclusion: The expression of the FATS gene can have an implication on the response to cisplatin and the overall survival. This opens the opportunity that FATS gene can be used as a predictive marker for NSCLC patients receiving cisplatin and gemcitabine chemotherapy

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