Association between lysyl oxidase polymorphisms and oral submucous fibrosis in older male areca chewers.
OBJECTIVE
Areca use is the major cause for oral squamous cell carcinoma and oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) in South Asians. Lysyl oxidase (LOX) is a copper-activated enzyme critical for collagen cross-linking and organization of extracellular matrix. The presence of a G to A polymorphism at nucleotide 473 caused a non-conservative Arg158Gln change in the LOX amino acid sequence. OSF is a precancerous lesions characterized by the accumulation of collagen in oral submucosa. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between LOX Arg158Gln polymorphism and the risk of OSF.


METHODS
PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphisms and direct sequencing was utilized to compare LOX polymorphic allelotype in male areca-chewing controls (n = 216) and OSF (n = 83) patients.


RESULTS
There was a borderline of statistically significant difference in Arg158Gln genotype lying between control and OSF patients. However, the G/A+A/A of LOX Arg158Gln in OSF patients older than 50 year was statistically significantly higher than controls older than 50 year (odd's ratio: 4.48; 95% CI = 1.58-12.67).


CONCLUSIONS
The elder OSF patients were increased in LOX Arg158Gln. Our findings may suggest a potential application in risk population selection using LOX polymorphism for preventive intervention of OSF genesis in a subset of areca chewers.
Shieh
Tzong-Ming
TM
Institute of Oral Biology, School of Dentistry, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Tu
His-Feng
HF
Ku
Ti-Hsuan
TH
Chang
Shu-Shin
SS
Chang
Kuo-Wei
KW
Liu
Chung-Ji
CJ