Objective: To investigate the association of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), i.e. -160C/A, -347G/GA and 3'UTR+ 54C/T, in the promoter region of E-cadherin gene (CDH1) with the risk of epithelial ovarian carcinoma.
Methods: The SNPs of CDH1 gene were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) in 207 epithelial ovarian carcinoma patients and 256 unrelated healthy women; immunohistochemistry was used to measure the level of CDH1 in different genotypes of 3'UTR+ 54C/T locus.
Results: There were no significant difference in the frequencies between patients and control women in the two loci (-160C/A, -347G/GA) of CDH1 gene (P> 0.05). However, there was significant difference in the frequency of CDH1 3'-UTR+ 54C/T genotypes (CC, CT and TT) between patients and controls (P< 0.05). The frequencies of the CC genotype and the C allele in patients (65.2%, 89.1%) were significantly higher than that in controls (52.7%ì64.5%) (P< 0.01). The CC genotype significantly increased the risk to epithelial ovarian carcinoma, with adjusted odds ratio of 1.85 (95%CI= 1.27-2.69). In the ovarian tissues of patients, the expression of CDH1 from CC genotype was significantly lower than that with the other genotypes (CT+ TT) (P< 0.05). The -160C/A and -347G/GA polymorphisms were in linkage disequilibrium (D'= 0.999582) by analyzing with 2LD software. The -160A/-347GA haplotype was only observed in patients (5.1%), the -160C/-347GA haplotype decreased susceptibility to epithelial ovarian carcinoma, with adjusted odds ratio of 0.66 (95%CI= 0.45-0.96).
Conclusion: CDH1 -160C/A and -347G/GA polymorphisms were not associated with the risk of epithelial ovarian carcinoma. However, the haplotype may have impact on the risk of epithelial ovarian carcinoma. The CC genotype of 3'-UTR + 54CT may be a potential risk factor for the epithelial ovarian carcinoma.