Altered expression of nucleotide excision repair genes ERCC2 and ERCC5 in prostate cancer tissues

Disruptions in the genome's maintenance capacity pose a problem for every organism, potentially leading to carcinogenesis. Therefore, it is extremely important to determine the relationship between factors affecting genome stability and disease pathogenesis. Nucleotide Excision Repair (NER) is a key mechanism maintaining genomic stability, repairing major DNA lesions caused by environmental factors like UV light, chemical agents, and cigarette smoke. In our study, we investigated the role of two NER-related genes, XPD/ERCC2 and XPG/ERCC5, in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer and their relationship with patients' clinical and pathological findings. Gene expression of ERCC2 and ERCC5 was analyzed using the RT-PCR method on pathologically verified matched tumor and normal biopsy samples collected from 50 prostate cancer patients. ERCC5 expression was significantly upregulated by 5.94-fold in tumor tissues (p = 0.005), whereas ERCC2 exhibited a non-significant 2.25-fold increase (p = 0.12). There was no significant correlation between ERCC2 and ERCC5 expression levels. Furthermore, the expression of both genes remained unaffected by key clinical variables, including smoking, diabetes, hypertension, nodule presence, PSA level, Gleason, and PIRADS scores. The high expression of the ERCC5 gene in prostate cancer suggests that the NER pathway plays a significant role in this disease, and that ERCC5 may be considered a potential biomarker.