AccScience Publishing / EJMO / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/EJMO025230240
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Association of POLR2E rs3787016 polymorphism with lung cancer risk and efficacy of platinum-based chemotherapy: A case–control study

Chao Mei1 ,  Bi Sheng2 ,  Juan Chen3 ,  Weijing Gong1*
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1 Department of Pharmacy, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
2 Department of Pharmacy, Wuhan Third Hospital, Wuhan, Hubei, China
3 Department of Pharmacy, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
EJMO, 025230240 https://doi.org/10.36922/EJMO025230240
Received: 4 June 2025 | Revised: 24 July 2025 | Accepted: 15 September 2025 | Published online: 8 October 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Introduction: Lung cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers, with high mortality rate. Chemotherapy is a fundamental component of the treatment. However, the response varies among individuals.

Objective: This study investigated the association of the POLR2E rs3787016 polymorphism with lung cancer susceptibility and platinum-based chemotherapy response.

Methods: The study included 498 pulmonary carcinoma patients and 213 healthy individuals. Of these, 467 cases received at least two cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy The POLR2E rs3787016 genotyping was performed using time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Unconditional logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the association of the genotype with pulmonary carcinoma susceptibility, as well as platinum-based chemotherapy response.

Results: The study found no statistically significant association between POLR2E rs3787016 and susceptibility to pulmonary carcinoma (additive model: adjusted OR [aOR] = 1.012, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.781–1.310, p=0.930; dominant model: aOR = 0.794, 95% CI = 0.518–1.217, p=0.289; recessive model: aOR = 1.303, 95% CI = 0.847–2.003, p=0.228). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated no meaningful association between POLR2E rs3787016 and the efficacy of platinum-based chemotherapy (additive model: aOR = 0.901, 95% CI = 0.688–1.181, p=0.450; dominant model: aOR = 0.900, 95% CI = 0.578–1.401, p=0.642; recessive model: aOR = 0.840, 95% CI = 0.541–1.306, p=0.439). Besides, no substantial association was found between POLR2E rs3787016 polymorphism and the 5-year overall survival.

Conclusion: Current evidence does not support POLR2E rs3787016 as a potential biomarker for predicting susceptibility to pulmonary carcinoma and the therapeutic efficacy of platinum-based chemotherapy in Chinese patients.

Keywords
POLR2E rs3787016
Pulmonary carcinoma
Platinum-based chemotherapy
Cancer risk
Funding
This work was supported by grants from The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82304634, 82003868); the Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2023AFD022); the Hospital Pharmaceutical Science Research Special Project of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association (No. CPA-Z05-ZC-2024-002); and the Drug Safety Research Project by Adverse Drug Reactions Journal (ADR2024MS12).
Conflict of interest
All authors declare that they have no financial or competing interests.
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Eurasian Journal of Medicine and Oncology, Electronic ISSN: 2587-196X Print ISSN: 2587-2400, Published by AccScience Publishing
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