title: Functional genetic variant in the Kozak sequence of WW domain-containing oxidoreductase (WWOX) gene is associated with oral cancer risk.
abstract: In Taiwan, oral cancer is the fourth leading cancer in males and is associated with exposure to environmental carcinogens. WW domain-containing oxidoreductase (WWOX), a tumor suppressor gene, is associated with the development of various cancers. We hypothesized that genetic variants of WWOX influence the susceptibility to oral cancer. Five polymorphisms of WWOX gene from 761 male patients with oral cancer and 1199 male cancer-free individuals were genotyped. We observed that individuals carrying the polymorphic allele of WWOX rs11545028 are more susceptible to oral cancer. Furthermore, patients with advanced-stage oral cancer were associated with a higher frequency of WWOX rs11545028 polymorphisms with the variant genotype TT than did patients with the wild-type gene. An additional integrated in silico analysis confirmed that rs11545028 affects WWOX expression, which significantly correlates with tumor expression and subsequently with tumor development and aggressiveness. In conclusion, genetic variants of WWOX contribute to the occurrence of oral cancer, and the findings regarding these biomarkers provided a prediction model for risk assessment.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsin-Lin
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Fan
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chun-Wen
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Whole-Genome Research Core Laboratory of Human Diseases, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shih-Chi
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.|Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Mu-Kuan
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.|Department of Medical Research, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shun-Fa
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oral Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.|Department of Dentistry, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chiao-Wen
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics*; D059372:Nucleotide Motifs / Q000235:genetics; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012307:Risk Factors; D013624:Taiwan; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D000074584:WW Domain-Containing Oxidoreductase / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins; D000074584:WW Domain-Containing Oxidoreductase; C486071:WWOX protein, human
keywords: WWOX; oral cancer; single nucleotide polymorphism