Association of Caspase-8 Genotypes With Oral Cancer Risk in Taiwan

Abstract

Background/Aim: Recently, mounting evidence has shown that caspase-8 (CASP8) rs3834129 (-652, 6N insertion/deletion) polymorphism may serve as a genetic biomarker for personal risk of various cancer types. The contribution of CASP8 rs3834129 polymorphism has been investigated in several oral cancer populations, but not in Taiwan. This study investigated the role of CASP8 rs3834129 polymorphism on oral risk in Taiwan. Materials and Methods: CASP8 rs3834129 polymorphic genotypes were determined and their associations with oral cancer risk were investigated among 788 patients with oral cancer and 956 age-and gender-matched healthy controls via polymerase chain reaction-restrictive fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) methodology. In addition, the interaction of CASP8 rs3834129 genotype with personal behavior and clinicopathological features were also examined. Results: The frequencies of II, ID and DD genotypes for CASP8 rs3834129 were 57.5, 36.5 and 6.0% in the patient group and 54.0, 39.0 and 7.0% in the healthy control group, respectively (p for trend=0.3052), genotypes were not significantly differentially distributed between the two groups. The comparisons in allelic frequency distribution also supported the findings that the D variant allele may not serve as a determinant of risk for oral cancer. There was no interaction of CASP8 rs3834129 genotype with age, gender, smoking, alcohol or betel quid consumption in regard to oral cancer risk. Conclusion: Our results indicate that the caspase-8 genotype does not appear to play a direct role in personal susceptibility to oral cancer in Taiwan. Oral cancer is the eighth most commonly diagnosed cancer among men in the world, and about twice more prevalent than among women in the world (1). In Taiwan, the incidence and mortality of oral cancer has occupied the fourth and fifth places among the common cancer types for many years (2), and its high incidence has been proposed to be closely associated with the combinative effects of smoking, alcoholism and, betel quid chewing in addition to genetic factors (3-6). However, the definitive genomic etiology of oral cancer remains largely unknown. In Taiwan, although several useful biomarkers for early detection of oral cancer have been revealed (7-13), the mechanisms underlying them are largely unknown and practical genomic markers for clinical use are still in urgent need. Noticeably, Taiwan has over of the highest densities worldwide of patients with oral cancer. Apoptosis is a bio-essential mechanism for altering the morphology, and controlling the death rate of a stable population (14). In the literature, mounting evidence has shown loss of homeostasis of the apoptosis pathway to be associated with the development of oral cancer (15), and 1151 This article is freely accessible online.

Interaction of Interleukin-16 Genotypes With Betel Quid Chewing Behavior on Oral Cancer in Taiwan

“…From the viewpoint of oral cancer genomics, there are several biomarkers in the fields of DNA repair activity (27,28), extracellular matrix regulation (17,18), antioxidant capacity (28,29), cell viability (19). All these, in addition to the immune-responsiveness studied here, are contributors to differential susceptibility of individual patients.…”

“…Investigated controls and cases. Briefly, 958 oral cancer cases were recruited at the China Medical University Hospital in central Taiwan (17)(18)(19). The demographic indexes of the oral cancer patients, including their histological details, were all graded and defined by expert surgeons.…”

Genetic Aberrations in Caspase Family of Genes and Their Possible Association with HNSCC

“…Several polymorphic sites were identified in the CASP8 gene, among which a six-nucleotide insertion/deletion variant was found to have a direct effect on the regulation of CASP8 mRNA. In view of this fact, numerous studies have reported the association of polymorphism with various types of cancer including cancers of neuroblastoma, digestive tract, lung, prostate, breast and bladder [19]. Although this polymorphism produces controversial results in different population groups, it is worthwhile to study the effect of these variants or genetic markers in the South Asian population to derive an association between the same with HNSCC.…”

Interaction of DNA Repair Gene XPC With Smoking and Betel Quid Chewing Behaviors of Oral Cancer

“…Recruited Taiwanese oral cancer cases and controls. In brief, 958 oral cancer patients had been recruited at the China Medical University Hospital (22)(23)(24). The frequencies of their demographic characteristics including age, gender, personal behaviors and tumor sites were summarized in Table I.…”