BACKGROUND

Caspases (CASPs) are the main executors of the apoptotic process. Studies to date have shown the role of caspase-8 (CASP8) and caspase-9 (CASP9) in carcinogenesis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the associations between CASP9-rs4233532, CASP9-rs4646018, and CASP8- rs1045485 gene polymorphisms and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) susceptibility in an Iranian population-based study. Moreover, it was examined whether such the genotype of these polymorphisms is related with clinicopathological characteristics of NHL.

METHODS

175 patients with NHL and 175 age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled in this study. We determined the genotypes of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from CASP genes with Tetra ARMS-PCR (Amplification refractory mutation system) method.

RESULTS

Statistically significant association were observed between CASP9-rs4646018 and increased risk of NHL under codominant CC, codominant TC, and dominant TC+CC genetic models. Our results showed that the A allele of CASP8-rs1045485 was a protective factor for NHL and GArs1045485 genotype significantly reduced risk of NHL. In contrast, CASP9- rs4233532 was not linked to NHL susceptibility. No relationship was detected between CASP8-rs1045485 and CASP9-rs4233532 and NHL clinicopathological characteristics, however genetic variation in CASP9-rs4646018 was associated with histology, treatment and radio therapy of NHL.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study presented that the CASP8- rs1045485 and CASP9-rs4646018 polymorphisms could affect the risk of NHL in Iranian populations which was the first report to show the significant relationship between rs1045485, rs4646018 polymorphisms and NHL susceptibility. Replication large-scale case-control studies in different ethnicities are warranted to verify these findings.