Published online Mar 15, 2020. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v12.i3.289
Peer-review started: September 6, 2019
First decision: October 14, 2019
Revised: November 18, 2019
Accepted: January 6, 2020
Article in press: January 6, 2020
Published online: March 15, 2020
Processing time: 187 Days and 20.3 Hours
Previous studies have found that interleukin-21 (IL-21) may be associated with the risk of gastric precancerous lesions, and single nucleotide (SNPs) of the IL-21 gene are associated with various diseases or cancer. Clarifying the possible role of IL-21 SNPs (rs907715, rs2221903 and rs12508721) in gastric precancerous lesions is of great significance in preventing the development of gastric cancer.
However, no studies have examined the possible role of IL-21 SNPs (rs907715, rs2221903 and rs12508721) in gastric precancerous lesions.
Therefore, the present study explored the associations between SNPs of IL-21 (rs907715, rs2221903 and rs12508721) and risk of gastric precancerous lesions in a north western Chinese population, which may help clarify the etiology of gastric cancer and provide new targets for therapeutic interventions.
Gastric precancerous lesions were confirmed by endoscopic examination and categorized as non-atrophic gastritis, atrophic gastritis, and intestinal metaplasia. Three SNPs of IL-21 (rs907715, rs2221903 and rs12508721) were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction–ligase detection reaction in 588 cases and 290 healthy controls. Descriptive statistic and logistic regression were used for data analyses.
We found an association between IL-21 rs907715 polymorphism and gastric precancerous lesions. IL-21 rs907715 genotype CC and C frequencies in patients with gastric precancerous lesions were higher than in controls. SNP rs907715 increased in CC and C genotypes were associated with intestinal metaplasia patients when examined separately. However, the exact role of rs907715 in development of gastric precancerous lesions at a molecular level remains to be studied.
In conclusion, our findings indicate that SNP rs907715 of IL-21 gene is associated with gastric precancerous lesions.
If confirmed by other studies, the results of our study suggest that IL-21 rs907715 polymorphisms may shed light on the etiology of precancerous lesions.