Gender-specific Association between Polymorphism of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF 936C > T) Gene and Patients with Stomach Cancer

PURPOSE Angiogenesis plays an important role in the growth, progression, and metastasis of tumors. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) overexpression has been associated with advanced stage and poor survival in several cancers. We investigated the present case-control study to determine whether there is an association between the VEGF 936C>T polymorphism and stomach cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS The association of functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the VEGF gene with stomach cancer development was evaluated in a case-control study of 154 Korean stomach cancer patients. Genotypes were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. RESULTS Our results revealed significant association of T allele-bearing genotypes with increased risk for stomach cancer development. Genotype frequencies of the VEGF 936C>T polymorphisms were significantly different between patient and control groups (CT, AOR: 2.007, 95% CI: 1.277-3.156, TT, AOR: 4.790, 95% CI: 1.174-19.539, CT+TT, AOR: 2.147, 95% CI: 1.382-3.337). When stratified by gender and age, genotype frequencies were significantly different for stomach cancer in women and in patients younger than 55 years (in women, CT, OR: 3.049, 95% CI: 1.568-5.930, CT+TT, OR: 3.132, 95% CI: 1.638-5.990; in < 55 years, CT, OR: 3.306, 95% CI: 1.413-7.732, CT+TT, OR: 3.967, 95% CI: 1.729-9.104). In addition, this association partially remained in cases with intestinal and diffuse-type stomach cancer. CONCLUSION Our present study suggests that the VEGF 936C>T polymorphism is a susceptibility factor for stomach cancer, at least in Korean. These observations, however, require further confirmation by a larger multi-ethnic study.