title: Association between novel PLCE1 variants identified in published esophageal cancer genome-wide association studies and risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Phospholipase C epsilon 1 (PLCE1) (an effector of Ras) belonging to the phospholipase family plays crucial roles in carcinogenesis and progression of several cancers, including squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP, rs2274223) in PLCE1 has been identified as a novel susceptibility locus in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) that share similar risk factors with SCCHN. Therefore, we investigated the association between potentially functional SNPs in PLCE1 and susceptibility to SCCHN.
  
  
  METHODS
  We genotyped three potentially functional SNPs (rs2274223A/G, rs3203713A/G and rs11599672T/G) of PLCE1 in 1,098 SCCHN patients and 1,090 controls matched by age and sex in a non-Hispanic white population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although none of three SNPs was alone significantly associated with overall risk of SCCHN, their combined effects of risk alleles (rs2274223G, rs3203713G and rs11599672G) were found to be associated with risk of SCCHN in a locus-dose effect manner (Ptrend=0.046), particularly for non-oropharyngeal tumors (Ptrend=0.017); specifically, rs2274223 was associated with a significantly increased risk (AG vs. AA: adjusted OR=1.29, 95% CI=1.01-1.64; AG/GG vs. AA: adjusted OR=1.30, 95% CI=1.03-1.64), while rs11599672 was associated with a significantly decreased risk (GG vs. TT: adjusted OR=0.54, 95% CI=0.34-0.86; TG/GG vs. TT: adjusted OR=0.76, 95% CI=0.61-0.95).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that PLCE1 variants may have an effect on risk of SCCHN associated with tobacco and alcohol exposure, particularly for those tumors arising at non-oropharyngeal sites. These findings, although need to be validated by larger studies, are consistent with those in esophageal and gastric cancers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Hongxia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Li-E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhensheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Erich M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Sturgis
authors.forename: Qingyi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects; D000483:Alleles; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003043:Cocarcinogenesis; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D005838:Genotype; D006239:Haplotypes; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D009928:Organ Specificity; D054801:Phosphoinositide Phospholipase C / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012306:Risk; D012307:Risk Factors; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D054801:Phosphoinositide Phospholipase C; C423320:phospholipase C epsilon