Published in:
01-12-2012 | Original Paper
The -938A/A genotype of BCL2 gene is associated with esophageal cancer
Authors:
Zhigang Liu, Ruifang Sun, Weidong Lü, Chengxue Dang, Yangrong Song, Cheng Wang, Xi Zhang, Le Han, Hao Cheng, Wei Gao, Jia Liu, Guangyan Lei
Published in:
Medical Oncology
|
Issue 4/2012
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Abstract
Perturbations in the apoptotic genes have been implicated in human malignancies. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the polymorphisms of -938C/A, Thr43Ala in anti-apoptotic B-cell lymphoma 2 gene (BCL2) and -248G/A in pro-apoptotic B-cell lymphoma 2-associated X protein gene (BAX) and to explore their role in influencing the susceptibility for development of esophageal cancer. A total of 205 esophageal cancer patients and 224 controls were enrolled in the present study. The genotype and allele distributions of -938C/A, ala43thr in BCL2 and -248G/A in BAX were analyzed in patients and controls, as well as the association of -938C/A genotype with clinical characteristics in patients. We found that homozygous -938A/A genotype of BCL2 gene was significantly associated with risk of developing esophageal cancer (χ2 = 9.269, P = 0.002, OR = 2.585, 95%CI = 1.380–4.842). Association with clinical characteristics showed that the patients with BCL2 -938A/A genotype were more likely to develop into poor differentiation compared with the AC and CC carriers (χ2 = 5.796, P = 0.016, OR = 4.039, 95%CI = 1.200–13.596), and we found smokers were more present in the -938A/A genotype subgroup (χ2 = 5.095, P = 0.024, OR = 2.679, 95%CI = 0.893–8.025). The present study revealed that the -938A/A genotype of BCL2 gene is associated with susceptibility of esophageal cancer. There appeared to be an impact of BCL2 -938A/A genotype on tumor differentiation and smoking. Further studies are needed in a larger population.