Purpose: AURKA is a centrosome-associated serine/threonine kinase involved in mitotic chromosomal segregation. The AURKA gene is located on chromosome 20q13, also known as HPC20 prostate cancer susceptibility locus. Therefore, we investigated in this Caucasian case-control study two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the AURKA gene, rs8173 located in the 3'-untranslated region (G1891C) and rs2273535 in exon 5 (Phe31Ile), and their association with prostate cancer risk.
Methods: DNA was extracted from peripheral blood of 824 prostate cancer patients and 1,081 control patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Genotypes were determined using 5'-nuclease TaqMan assays. Multiple logistic regressions were performed to calculate odds ratios (OR) and confidence intervals (CI) and to adjust for confounders.
Results: The odds ratios calculated relative to the wild-type were for the homozygous polymorphic genotypes 1.11 (95% CI = 0.70-1.76) for rs8173 and 1.32 (95% CI = 0.76-2.31) for rs2273535, respectively. Stratified analyses according to Gleason score showed also no statistically significant association for the investigated polymorphisms and prostate cancer risk.
Conclusions: The two investigated SNPs in AURKA were not found to be associated with prostate cancer risk. Other common SNPs of AURKA should be investigated in further studies because of its location on a prostate cancer susceptibility locus.