Effects of Soy Product Intake and Interleukin Genetic Polymorphisms on Early Gastric Cancer Risk in Korea: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

Purpose: The current study investigated whether the combined effects of soy intake and genetic polymorphisms of interleukin (IL) genes modify gastric cancer risk.

Materials and methods: A total of 377 cases and 754 controls of Korean origin were included in the analysis. Soy consumption was assessed using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Seven variants of IL10 (rs1800871), IL2 (rs2069763 and rs2069762), IL13 (rs6596090 and rs20541), and IL4R (rs7205663 and rs1805010) were genetically analyzed. To analyze the combined effect of soy intake and genetic polymorphisms, a low-intake group and high-intake group of each type of soy were categorized based on the intake level of the control group. Interactions between soy products and these genetic variants were analyzed by a likelihood ratio test, in which a multiplicative interaction term was added to the logistic regression model.

Results: A higher intake of nonfermented soy products was associated with a reduced cancer risk (odds ratio [OR], 0.62; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.43 to 0.90), and the reduced risk was only apparent in males (OR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.27 to 0.71). None of the IL genetic polymorphisms examined were independently associated with gastric cancer risk. Individuals with a minor allele of IL2 rs2069762 and a higher intake of nonfermented soy food had a decreased risk of gastric cancer (OR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.31 to 0.68) compared to those with a lower intake (p_interaction=0.039).

Conclusion: Based on the genetic characteristics of the studied individuals, the interaction between IL2 rs2069762 and nonfermented soy intake may modify the risk of gastric cancer.

Keywords: Case-control studies; Gene-environment interaction; Genetic polymorphisms; Interleukins; Korea; Soy foods; Stomach neoplasms.

Fig. 1.

Flowchart for the selection of study subjects in the study.