title: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene polymorphisms and breast cancer risk in a Chinese population.
abstract: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent regulator of angiogenesis and thereby involved in the development and progression of solid tumours. Associations between three VEGF gene polymorphisms (-634 G/C, +936 C/T, and +1612 G/A) and breast cancer risk have been extensively studied, but the currently available results are inconclusive. Our aim was to investigate associations between three VEGF gene polymorphisms and breast cancer risk in Chinese Han patients. We performed a hospital-based case-control study including 680 female incident breast cancer patients and 680 female age-matched healthy control subjects. Polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis was performed to detect the three VEGF gene polymorphisms. We observed that women carriers of +936 TT genotypes [odds ratio (OR) =0.46, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.28, 0.76; P=0.002] or 936 T-allele (OR=0.81, 95% CI= 0.68, 0.98; P=0.03) had a protective effect concerning the disease. Our study suggested that the +1612G/A polymorphism was unlikely to be associated with breast cancer risk. The -634CC genotype was significantly associated with high tumor aggressiveness [large tumor size (OR=2.63, 95% CI=1.15, 6.02; P=0.02) and high histologic grade (OR=1.47, 95% CI= 1.06, 2.03; P=0.02)]. The genotypes were not related with other tumor characteristics such as regional or distant metastasis, stage at diagnosis, or estrogen or progesterone receptor status. Our study revealed that the VEGF -634 G/C and +936 C/T gene polymorphisms may be associated with breast cancer in Chinese Han patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck and Mammary Oncology, Cancer Center and State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, Laboratory of Molecular Diagnosis of Cancer, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Qian-Cheng
authors.initials: QC
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Xiao-Rong
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Yuan-Fu
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Ting-Lun
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D002285:Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism; D012307:Risk Factors; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; C467484:VEGFA protein, human; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human