Background: Since apoptosis plays a key role in cancer progression, the present study analyzed the polymorphisms of apoptosis-related genes and their impact on survival after curative resection in patients with colorectal cancer.
Materials and methods: Three hundred and seventy-seven patients were enrolled in the present study. The genomic DNA was extracted from fresh colorectal mucosal tissue, and 15 SNPs of 12 apoptosis-related genes were determined using a Sequenom MassARRAY system.
Results: During the median follow-up of 41.8 (range, 1.1-85.5) months patients alive at last follow-up, 65 relapses and 57 deaths occurred. Among the target polymorphisms, the RIPK1 rs2272990 in a dominant model and the CASP7 rs2227310 in a recessive model of the minor allele were associated with survival in a log-rank test. Moreover, the GA+AA genotype of the RIPK1 rs2272990 and the GG genotype of the CASP7 rs2227310 were significantly correlated with a worse disease-free (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.093; P = 0.007 and HR = 2.641; 0.002, respectively) and disease-specific survival (HR = 2.222; P = 0.013 and HR = 2.247; P = 0.031, respectively) in a multivariate survival analysis.
Conclusion: The RIPK1 and CASP7 polymorphisms can be considered as possible prognostic markers for survival after curative resection in patients with colorectal cancer.