Purpose: Nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) is an inducible transcription factor that plays a major role in the regulation of genes involved in immune and inflammatory response. Activation of NF-kappaB has also been associated with apoptosis and proliferation, thereby potentially also controlling oncogenesis. A functional insertion/deletion polymorphism has been identified in the promoter region of NFKB1, which apparently controls the transcription of NF-kappaB. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to investigate associations of the -94ins/delATTG polymorphism with susceptibility and survival of patients with different types of cancer.
Experimental design: Genotype distributions in patients with colorectal carcinoma (n=139), B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (n=72) and clear cell renal cell carcinoma (n=140), and in controls (n=307) were analyzed by pyrosequencing and compared with each other as well as associated with clinico-pathological parameters and demographic data.
Results: No statistically significant differences in both allele and genotype frequencies were observed between patients and healthy controls. Likewise, no association between -94ins/delATTG alleles and survival or disease progression was noticed.
Conclusion: These results suggest that the NFKB1 promoter polymorphism has no effect on risk and course of disease in the three cancer entities that were analyzed.