Phospholipase C ε-1 gene polymorphisms and prognosis of esophageal cancer patients from a high-incidence region in northern China

Abstract

Recent genome-wide association studies identified susceptibility loci for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), the most common histological type of esophageal cancer, in the phospholipase C ε-1 gene (PLCE1). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether polymorphisms of PLCE1 were associated with the prognosis of ESCC patients in a high-incidence region of northern China. The PLCE1 rs2274223 A/G and rs11599672T/G single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-ligase detection reaction method in 207 ESCC patients with survival information. The mean age ± standard deviation of the 207 ESCC patients was 60.3±7.9 years. Sex, age, smoking status and family history of upper gastrointestinal cancer were not found to be associated with the survival time of ESCC patients. The mean survival time of rs2274223 SNP A/A, A/G and G/G genotype carriers were 42.9, 43.4 and 46.3 months, respectively; for rs11599672 SNP T/T, T/G and G/G genotype carriers the survival time were 42.8, 43.8 and 42.7 months, respectively. There was no significant difference in survival time among the ESCC patients with different genotypes of rs2274223 and rs11599672 SNPs. In conclusion, PLCE1 rs227423 and rs11599672 SNPs cannot be used as predictive markers for the survival of ESCC patients from a high-incidence region of northern China.

Keywords: esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; phospholipase C ε-1 gene; polymorphism; prognosis.

Figure 1.

Kaplan-Meier survival curves for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients by genotypes of PLCE1 SNPs. (A) rs2274223 A/G SNP; (B) rs11599672 T/G SNP. PLCE1, phospholipase C ε-1 gene; SNP, single-nucleotide polymorphism.