Gastric Cancer
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2003. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 15, 2003; 9(1): 50-53
Published online Jan 15, 2003. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v9.i1.50
Association between pepsinogen C gene polymorphism and genetic predisposition to gastric cancer
Hui-Jie Liu, Xiao-Lin Guo, Ming Dong, Lan Wang, Yuan Yuan
Hui-Jie Liu, Xiao-Lin Guo, Ming Dong, Lan Wang, Yuan Yuan, Cancer Institute, First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Supported by The National Basic Research Program (973) of China, No.G1998051203 and National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.30171054
Correspondence to: Dr. Yuan Yuan, Cancer Institute, First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, 155 Northern Nanjing Street, Heping District, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning Province, China. yyuan@mail.cmu.edu.cn
Telephone: +86-24-23256666-6153 Fax: +86-24-22703576
Received: June 28, 2002
Revised: July 14, 2002
Accepted: July 25, 2002
Published online: January 15, 2003
Abstract

AIM: To identify a molecular marker for gastric cancer, and to investigate the relationship between the polymorphism of pepsinogen C (PGC) gene and the genetic predisposition to gastric cancer.

METHODS: A total of 289 cases were involved in this study. 115 cases came from Shenyang area, a low risk area of gastric cancer, including 42 unrelated controls and 73 patients with gastric cancer. 174 cases came from Zhuanghe area, a high-risk area of gastric cancer, including 113 unrelated controls, and 61 cases from gastric cancer kindred families. The polymorphism of PGC gene was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the relation between the genetic polymorphism of PGC and gastric cancer was examined.

RESULTS: Four alleles, 310 bp (allele 1), 400 bp (allele 2), 450 bp (allele 3), and 480 bp (allele 4) were detected by PCR. The frequency of allele 1 was higher in patients with gastric cancer than that in controls. Genotypes containing homogenous allele 1 were significantly more frequent in patients with gastric cancer than that in controls (0.33, 0.14, χ2 = 3.86, P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the control group of Zhuanghe and the group of gastric cancer kindred. But the frequency of allele 1 was higher in control group of Zhuanghe area than that in control group of Shenyang area and genotypes containing homogenous allele 1 were significantly more frequent in the control group of Zhuanghe area than those in control group of Shenyang area (0.33, 0.14, χ2 = 4.32, P < 0.05). In the group of gastric cancer kindred the frequency of allele 1 was significantly higher than that in control group of Shenyang area (0.5164, 0.3571, χ2 = 4.47, P < 0.05). Genotypes containing homogenous allele 1 were significantly more frequent in the group of gastric cancer kindred than those in control group of Shenyang area (0.36, 0.14, χ2 = 4.91, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: These results suggest that there is some relation between pepsinogen C gene polymorphism and gastric cancer, and the person with homogenous allele 1 predisposes to gastric cancer than those with other genotypes. Pepsinogen C gene polymorphism may be used as a genetic marker for a genetic predisposition to gastric cancer. The distribution of pepsinogen C gene polymorphism in Zhuanghe, a high-risk area of gastric cancer, is different from that in Shenyang, a low risk area of gastric cancer.

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