Genetic polymorphisms of MDM2 and TP53 genes are associated with risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in a Chinese population.

BACKGROUND

The tumor suppressor TP53 and its negative regulator MDM2 play crucial roles in carcinogenesis. Previous case-control studies also revealed TP53 72Arg>Pro and MDM2 309T>G polymorphisms contribute to the risk of common cancers. However, the relationship between these two functional polymorphisms and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) susceptibility has not been explored.

METHODS

In this study, we performed a case-control study between 522 NPC patients and 722 healthy controls in a Chinese population by using PCR-RFLP.

RESULTS

We found an increased NPC risk associated with the MDM2 GG (odds ratio [OR] = 2.83, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.08-3.96) and TG (OR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.16-2.06) genotypes. An increased risk was also associated with the TP53 Pro/Pro genotype (OR = 2.22, 95% CI = 1.58-3.10) compared to the Arg/Arg genotype. The gene-gene interaction of MDM2 and TP53 polymorphisms increased adult NPC risk in a more than multiplicative manner (OR for the presence of both MDM2 GG and TP53 Pro/Pro genotypes = 7.75, 95% CI = 3.53-17.58).

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that polymorphisms of MDM2 and TP53 genes may be genetic modifier for developing NPC.