Lysyl oxidase G473A polymorphism is closely associated with susceptibility to gastric cancer in a South Korean population.

The aim of this study was to determine whether a single nucleotide polymorphism at G473A (rs1800449) within the LOX-propeptide is associated with susceptibility to gastric cancer. We investigated the genotype and allele frequencies of this gene in tissue specimens from 458 gastric cancer patients and 282 healthy individuals. Polymorphism analysis was performed by amplifying the propeptide region of LOX and digestion with NotI followed by sequencing of the products. The frequencies of the LOX G473A G/G, G/A, and A/A genotypes were 54.4% (249/458), 34.3% (157/458), and 11.3% (52/458), respectively, in gastric cancer patients and 58.9% (166/300), 35.5% (100/282), and 5.7% (16/282), respectively, in the healthy controls. Statistically significant differences in the genotype and allele frequency of LOX rs1800449 were observed between the healthy controls and gastric cancer patients (p = 0.0294 and p = 0.0339). When the data were stratified according to gastric cancer histologic subtype, the risk of diffuse-type gastric cancer in carriers with an A allele (G/A or A/A genotypes) was statistically higher compared to that of carriers with the G/G genotype (p = 0.0001). Our findings suggest that G473A polymorphism of the LOX gene may be closely associated with susceptibility to the development and differentiation of gastric cancer in South Korean patients.