Aim: To evaluate the impact of the ITGA2 gene polymorphism on gastric cancer risk.
Methods: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted, including 307 gastric cancer patients and 307 age- and gender-matched control subjects. The genotypes were identified by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay.
Results: The frequencies of the wild and variant genotypes in cases were significantly different from those of controls (P = 0.019). Compared with individuals with the wild genotype CC, subjects with the variant genotypes (CT + TT) had a significantly higher risk of gastric cancer (adjusted odds ratio = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.13-2.17, P = 0.007). In stratified analyses, the elevated gastric cancer risk was especially evident in older individuals aged > 58 years, nonsmokers and rural subjects. Further analyses revealed that the variant genotypes were associated with poor tumor differentiation and adjacent organ invasion in the sub-analysis of gastric cancer patients.
Conclusion: The ITGA2 gene C807T polymorphism may be associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer, differentiation and invasion of gastric cancer.
Keywords: Gastric cancer; Genotype; ITGA2; Integrin; Polymorphism.