Vascular endothelial growth factor,hypoxia inducible factor,interleukin,angiopoietin-like protein,integrin and epithelial mesenchymal transition can provide nutritional support and favorable environment for the growth,invasion and metastasis of cancer cells.Researches about mechanisms of the angiogenesis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma may provide more ideas and potential targets for the anti-angiogenesis targeted therapy.

Objective:To investigate the values of genetic polymorphisms of excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1), thymidylate synthase (TS), glutathione-S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) in predicting the prognosis of advanced esophageal cancer patients treated with cisplatin/fluorouracil chemotherapy.Methods:One hundred and seven patients with advanced esophageal cancer were enrolled in this study, 98 of which were eligible for analysis. All patients received cisplatin/fluorouracil chemotherapy repeated every three cycles. Genetic polymorphisms examined herein included those in the genes coding ERCC1, TS, GSTP1 and MTHFR. Then the relationships between genetic polymorphisms and response rate (RR) and progression free survival (PFS) time were analyzed. Results:The patients with A/A or A/C genotype in ERCC1-C8092A had a higher response rate and longer PFS than the patients with C/C genotype (P=0.010,P=0.008);the patients with 2R2R or 2R3C or 3C3C genotype in TS-5'UTR had a higher response rate and longer PFS than the patients with 2R3G or 3C3G or 3G3G (P=0.007,P=0.018). There was no significant relationship between RR and PFS and other genetic polymorphisms. Conclusion:The advanced esophageal cancer patients with A/A or A/C genotype in ERCC1-C8092A and/or 2R2R or 2R3C or 3C3C genotype in TS-5'UTR were more sensitive to cisplatin/fluorouracil chemotherapy.