The Association between O(6)-Methylguanine DNA Methyltransferase (MGMT) rs11016879 and rs7069143 Polymorphisms and Susceptibility to Еsophageal Аdenocarcinoma in a Han Chinese Population

Abstract

Some evidence has shown that O(6)-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) plays a key role in the pathogenesis of Esophageal Adenocarcinoma (EA) in some populations but not Chinese Han. The objective of this study is to investigate this issue. Three SNPs (rs11016879, rs7069143, rs7071825) were genotyped in 205 unrelated EA patients and 216 healthy controls matched for age and gender using pre-designed TaqMan SNP genotyping assay kits on an ABI PRISM 7900 HT Sequence Detection System. Meanwhile, expression level of MGMT was measured by quantitative real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), including 102 patients for EA and 113 healthy controls. The alleles distribution of rs11016879 (G/A, OR = 1.412, 95% CI = 1.053–1.894, P = 0.021) and the genotypes distribution of rs7069143 (CC/CT, OR = 1.580, 95% CI = 1.047–2.384, P = 0.029) significantly differed between the case and control groups. The expression level of MGMT significantly reduced in patients (control, 0.963 ± 0.094; case, 0.586 ± 0.083; P = 0.022), which was correlated with an increased risk for EA. These findings indicated that the association between MGMT and EA might exist in Chinese Han.