Ovarian Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Ovarian Cancer, including details on symptoms, causes, treatment, information.

E-cadherin gene polymorphisms and haplotype associated with the occurrence of epithelial ovarian cancer in Chinese.

Li Y, Liang J, Kang S, Dong Z, Wang N, Xing H, Zhou R, Li X, Zhao X

Department of Molecular Biology, Hebei Cancer Institute, Hebei Medical University, Fourth Hospital, Jiankanglu 12, Shijiazhuang 050011, China. lykx1962@yahoo.com.cn

BACKGROUNDS AND AIMS: E-cadherin plays an important role in the origin of epithelial ovarian cancer. However, the exact molecular mechanism by which this occurs is unknown. The polymorphisms located at the E-cadherin may contribute to an increased risk for certain cancers. In this paper, we studied the association between polymorphisms of E-cadherin and the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer. METHODS: We assessed the -160C/A, -347G/GA polymorphism within the promoter region and 3'-UTR +54C/T polymorphism of E-cadherin in epithelial ovarian cancer and control women. We also tested the expression of E-cadherin protein in ovarian cancer tissue among three genotype (3'-UTR +54C/T polymorphism) carriers. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in genotype distribution of the -160C/A and -347G/GA SNPs in the E-cadherin gene promoter region between ovarian cancer patients and controls, but haplotype -160A/-347GA relative to haplotype -160C/-347G was 48.6 (95% CI=2.9-806.2) for epithelial ovarian cancer risk. The C/C genotype of the 3'-UTR +54C/T polymorphism relative to the C/T+T/T genotype was 1.85 (95% CI=1.27-2.69) for epithelial ovarian cancer risk. E-cadherin protein expression in was lower in C/C genotype carriers than T allele carriers in ovarian cancer tissue (P=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: The C/C genotype of 3'-UTR C/T SNP and -160C/-374GA haplotype in E-cadherin gene may be a potential susceptibility factor for risk of epithelial ovarian cancer in Chinese, which indicated that the lower expression of E-cadherin might play an important role in the pathogenesis of epithelial ovarian cancer.

Published 5 February 2008 in Gynecol Oncol, 108(2): 409-14.
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