Neighborhood-level socioeconomic determinants impact outcomes in nonsmall cell lung cancer patients in the Southeastern United States.

Background: Studies examining the impact of lower socioeconomic status (SES) on the outcomes of patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are inconsistent. The objective of this study was to clearly elucidate the association between SES, education, and clinical outcomes among patients with NSCLC.

Methods: The study population was derived from a consecutive, retrospective cohort of patients with NSCLC who received treatment within the Duke Health System between 1995 and 2007.

High gene expression of TS1, GSTP1, and ERCC1 are risk factors for survival in patients treated with trimodality therapy for esophageal cancer.

Purpose: To assess the relationship between molecular markers associated with chemotherapy resistance and survival in esophageal cancer patients treated with trimodality therapy.

Experimental Design: The original pretreatment formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded endoscopic esophageal tumor biopsy material was obtained from 99 patients treated with concurrent cisplatin plus 5-fluorouracil plus 45 Gy radiation followed by resection at Duke University Medical Center (Durham, NC) from 1986 to 1997. cDNA was derived from the biopsy and analyzed to determine mRNA expression relative to an internal reference gene (beta-actin) using fluorescence-based, real-time reverse transcription-PCR.

Measurement of chemoresistance markers in patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer: a novel approach for patient selection.

Background: The long-term survival of patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer treated with a combination of chemotherapy and radiation is 10% to 20%. Survival could potentially be increased and toxicity limited if one could identify patients most likely to respond to a particular treatment regimen. This project prospectively evaluated a panel of potential immunohistochemical markers of chemoresistance in a population of patients with pathology-confirmed stage III non-small cell lung cancer in order to determine the prognostic value of each marker in relation to response to chemotherapy or survival.