Objectives: The precise role of gonadotropins in the carcinogenesis of epithelial ovarian cancer remains uncertain. Recently, the haplotype of two single nucleotide polymorphisms, Thr307Ala (rs6165) and Asn680Ser (rs6166), has been described as a risk factor for ovarian cancer in Chinese women. In this study we investigated the impact of this haplotype regarding the risk to develop ovarian cancer as well as possible effects upon the clinical course in a Caucasian patient sample.
Subjects and methods: Determination of genotypes in 115 patients with primary epithelial ovarian cancer and 115 age-matched controls was performed by Pyrosequencing for Thr307Ala and by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique for Asn680Ser.
Results: Analysis of the genotypes revealed almost complete linkage disequilibrium of both SNPs. The distribution of genotypes was not statistically significant different between ovarian cancer patients and age-matched controls. Clinical parameters such as overall survival, CA12-5 elevation at primary diagnosis, age at diagnosis, FIGO stage, grading, and platinum resistance were not statistically significantly different regarding genotypes.
Conclusions: We could not confirm the FSHR Ala307-Ser680 haplotype as a risk factor for epithelial ovarian cancer in Caucasian women. Hence, the modification of tumor risk may be affected by the ethnology of the patient collective. We could not find any associations of clinical parameters or course of the disease with the different genotypes.