Background: Cytokine-mediated inflammation is important in the pathogenesis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Genetic polymorphisms in cytokine genes and their association with lung cancer in the Indian population have not been reported.
Methods: For the first time, we analyzed genetic polymorphisms of TNFα -308, IFNγ +874, and IL10 -1082 genes in 246 NSCLC patients and 250 healthy controls in the South Indian population from Telangana using ARMS PCR.
Results: IFNγ+874 A/T and IL10-1082 G/G gene polymorphisms were found to be significantly associated with NSCLC with 1.56- and 1.68-fold disease risk, respectively. There was no association between the risk of NSCLC and TNFα-308 polymorphism. Gene polymorphisms stratified according to smoking revealed that IFNγ+874 A/T polymorphisms in smokers increased the disease risk by 2.91 fold. IL10-1082 G/G polymorphisms showed 2-fold increased risk among patients who were smokers when compared to the controls. However, there was no association between TNFα-308, IFNγ+874, and IL10-1082 gene polymorphism and the stage of the NSCLC patients. The overall risk associated with the combination of these polymorphisms indicated that the TNFα-308 G/A + IFNγ+874 A/T + IL10-1082 G/G genotype increased the risk by 1.5 fold.
Conclusions: The results of our study indicate an association between cytokine gene polymorphisms and the risk of NSCLC in an Indian population.
Keywords: Gene polymorphism; Interferon-γ; Interleukin-10; Non-small cell lung cancer; Tumor necrosis factor-α.