nm23 gene polymorphisms are associated with survival of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer but not with susceptibility to disease.
OBJECTIVE
nm23, a tumor metastasis suppressor gene, has been linked to protection against tumorigenesis and tumor metastasis. This study evaluated whether genetic variants in the nm23 gene were associated with susceptibility to epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) or the clinical outcome of patients.


METHODS
A case-control study was performed with 302 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer and 302 control women. According to the genotypes, the outcome in 213 EOC patients was compared. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed with Kaplan-Meier plots and Cox models adjusted for clinical factors.


RESULTS
The case-control analysis showed that the rs16949649 and rs2302254 polymorphisms in the nm23 gene promoter were not associated with the risk of developing EOC. In contrast, survival analysis showed that the rs2302254 C/T polymorphism was related to the prognosis of EOC patients. Compared with patients carrying the C/C genotype, patients carrying the T/T genotype had a shorter median PFS and median OS by Kaplan-Meier plots and Cox models adjusted for clinical factors. For rs16949649 T/C polymorphisms, Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that patients carrying the homozygous C/C genotype had shorter PFS and OS than those carrying the T allele (T/T+T/C genotype). The Cox proportional hazard model analysis suggested that this relationship was only retained in OS when adjusted for clinical factors.


CONCLUSIONS
Our studies suggest that rs16949649 and rs2302254 polymorphisms in the nm23 gene promoter may influence the prognosis of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.
Department of Molecular Biology, Hebei Medical University, Fourth Hospital, Shijiazhuang, China. lykx1962@yahoo.com.cn
Yan
Y
Li
Shan
S
Kang
Jing-Jing
JJ
Qin
Na
N
Wang
Rong-Miao
RM
Zhou
Hai-Yan
HY
Sun
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000077216:Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008875:Middle Aged; D054778:NM23 Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D009375:Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / Q000235:genetics*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D055815:Young Adult
D054778:NM23 Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinases; C517938:NME1 protein, human