Vascular endothelial growth factor gene-460 C/T polymorphism is a biomarker for oral cancer.
Oral cancer is one of the most common malignant diseases in Taiwan. The incidence of male oral cancer is 9.01 times than that of female. The formation or progression of oral cancer may be associated with a polymorphism of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene. The most frequently seen polymorphism is BstUI (C to T) located at the -460th nucleotide upstream of the VEGF gene. We investigated whether this polymorphism could be a genetic marker of oral cancer. A normal control group of 230 healthy people and 137 patients with oral cancer were examined. The polymorphism was detected by polymerase chain reaction-based restriction analysis. The analysis revealed significant differences between normal individuals and patients with cancer (P<0.001). The distribution of the "TT" homozygote in the patient group was greater than that in the control group. The odds ratio per copy of the "T/C" ratio was 9.62 (95% confidence interval 5.81-15.87), which means that for a group of people with a higher T/C ratio have higher risk in getting oral cancer. There is no gender difference in this VEGF gene polymorphism. Therefore, the BstUI polymorphism of the VEGF gene is a suitable genetic marker of oral cancer.
Ku
Kuo-Tung
KT
School of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung 404, Taiwan.
Wan
Lei
L
Peng
Hui-Chen
HC
Tsai
Ming-Hsui
MH
Tsai
Chang-Hai
CH
Tsai
Fuu-Jen
FJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006720:Homozygote; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000235:genetics*
D005819:Genetic Markers; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A