Published online Feb 21, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i7.2373
Peer-review started: May 12, 2015
First decision: July 19, 2015
Revised: August 12, 2015
Accepted: November 30, 2015
Article in press: November 30, 2015
Published online: February 21, 2016
Processing time: 265 Days and 1.8 Hours
AIM: To investigate the role of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CD24 gene in susceptibility and overall survival of gastric cancer (GC).
METHODS: We genotyped 3 tagging SNPs of CD24-P-534 in the promoter region, P170 in the coding region of exon 2 and P1527 in the 3′ untranslated region - using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism in specimens from 679 histologically-confirmed GC cases, 111 gastric atrophy (GA) cases and 976 tumor-free controls. Serum immunoglobulin G antibodies to Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) of all subjects were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. CD24 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in 131 GC specimens. Correlations between SNPs and risk of GC or GA were shown by P values and odd ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) compared with the most common genotype of each SNP using the unconditional logistic regression model after adjusting for age, sex and H. pylori infection. Survival within each SNP group was plotted by Kaplan-Meier method and compared by log-rank test (recessive model). Hazard ratios with 95%CIs were computed by Cox regression model after adjusting for age, sex, histological type, tumor differentiation, clinical stage and post-operational chemotherapy.
RESULTS: All of the three loci were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in the control group. Median follow-up time for the 600 GC patients included in the survival analysis was 36.2 mo (range, 2.1-66.7 mo; 95%CI: 34.3-36.5 mo). Patients with the P-534 A/A genotype had significantly shorter survival (HR = 1.38, 95%CI: 1.01-1.88, P = 0.042) than did the C/C or C/A genotype carriers after adjusting for age, sex, histological type, tumor differentiation, clinical stage and post-operational chemotherapy. This trend was more evident in patients who lived longer than 2.5 years (HR = 7.55, 95%CI: 2.16-26.32, P = 0.001). The P170 T/T genotype was associated with a shorter lifespan than the non-T/T genotypes, but not significantly so. None of the three genetic variants was found to be associated with risk of GC (including tumor stage, grade and distant metastasis) or with risk of gastric atrophy. Furthermore, no difference of CD24 expression was found among the genotypes.
CONCLUSION: The P-534 site in CD24 gene affects the overall survival of gastric cancer and may serve as a prognostic marker for gastric cancer.
Core tip: We evaluated the role of three genetic variants of CD24 in gastric cancer (GC) risk and prognosis using 679 GC cases and 976 controls. We observed that GC cases with the A/A genotype of P-534 (which lies in the CD24 promoter) had a significantly shorter survival (HR = 1.38) especially among patients who lived longer than 2.5 years (HR = 7.55) after adjusting for age, sex, histological type, tumor differentiation, clinical stage and post-operational chemotherapy. Our study provides the first evidence that P-534 site in CD24 may serve as a prognostic marker for gastric cancer.