Vascular endothelial growth factor gene polymorphisms and ovarian cancer survival.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to evaluate the effect of polymorphisms in the VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor) gene on overall survival in ovarian cancer patients.


METHODS
A sample of 319 women diagnosed with primary invasive epithelial ovarian cancer in Australia between 1985 and 1997, recruited as incident cases, were genotyped for four VEGF single nucleotide polymorphisms (three tagSNPs and one functional SNP) using the Sequenom MassARRAY platform. A SNP found to be associated with ovarian cancer survival in this sample set was then evaluated in two independent datasets in an attempt to replicate the association.


RESULTS
VEGF tagSNPs rs3025033 and rs2146323 were not associated with ovarian cancer survival in the Australian sample. Ovarian cancer patients homozygous for tagSNP rs833068 or the functional SNP rs2010963 displayed significantly shortened overall survival in the Australian sample (HR 2.09, 95% CI 1.16-3.78), an effect most apparent in the first 5years after diagnosis. This association was not replicated in two independent datasets.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings from this study provide no evidence that rs3025033 and rs2146323 VEGF polymorphisms are associated with ovarian cancer survival. Although homozygous carriers of the tagSNP rs833068 experienced significantly worse survival in our Australian dataset, we were unable to replicate this in two independent datasets.
Lose
Felicity
F
Molecular Cancer Epidemiology, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, P.O. Royal Brisbane Hospital, Herston, Brisbane, QLD 4029, Australia.
Nagle
Christina M
CM
O'Mara
Tracy
T
Batra
Jyotsna
J
Bolton
Kelly L
KL
Song
Honglin
H
Ramus
Susan J
SJ
Gentry-Maharaj
Aleksandra
A
Menon
Usha
U
Gayther
Simon A
SA
Pharoah
Paul D P
PD
Kedda
Mary-Anne
MA
Spurdle
Amanda B
AB
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D015996:Survival Rate; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000235:genetics*
C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A