Abstract: Objective  To detect expression of excision repair cross-complementation group 1（ERCC1） protein in metastatic lymph nodes of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer（NSCLC），and investigate whether the expression can be useful for individualizing therapy. Methods A total of 96 patients with pathologically proven NSCLC involving lymph node metastasis were randomized between one group receiving standard treatment group（n=38），which was first-line platinum-based chemotherapy；and another group receiving individualized treatment（n=58），based on ERCC1 protein detection.Treatment effectiveness and Kaplan-Meier survival curves were compared between the two groups. Results ERCC1 protein was expressed in the metastatic lymph nodes of 51.7% of 58 cases.The response rate was significantly higher in the individualized treatment group（58.6%） than in the standard treatment group （34.2%，P=0.019），as was median overall survival（9 vs 7 months，P=0.039）. Conclusions Individualized therapy based on ERCC1 protein detection in metastatic lymph nodes was associated with greater curative effect and survival than was standard therapy.

Key words: Lung neoplasms, Non-small cell lung cancer, Excision repair cross-complementation group 1, Individualized therapy