Visfatin Polymorphisms, Lifestyle Risk Factors and Risk of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma in a Cohort of Taiwanese Males

Abstract

Oral cancer is the eighth greatest generally diagnosed cancer amongst males worldwide and the fourth most generally malignancy amongst Taiwanese males. The pro-inflammatory adipocytokine visfatin promotes tumor growth. Elevated plasma visfatin levels have been identified in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), although the biological mechanisms underlying the involvement of visfatin in the pathogenesis of OSCC are not well understood. Moreover, no information is available regarding associations between visfatin polymorphisms and carcinogenic lifestyle factors with OSCC. This study, therefore, investigated the effects of four visfatin gene polymorphisms (rs11977021, rs61330082, rs2110385, and rs4730153) and carcinogenic lifestyle factors (betel nut chewing, alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking) on the risk of developing OSCC in 1,275 Taiwanese males with OSCC, and 1,195 healthy males (controls). We also examined the associations between these visfatin genotypes and OSCC histopathological prognostic factors (pathological stage, tumor status, lymph node status, and metastasis). We found that compared with subjects with the CC genotype of SNP rs11977021, those with the CT+TT genotype were less likely to progress OSCC. In addition, an association was found between the rs4730153 variant and lymph node metastasis in the OSCC cohort.

Genetic Associations of Visfatin Polymorphisms with EGFR Status and Clinicopathologic Characteristics in Lung Adenocarcinoma

“…In our study, neither visfatin SNPs rs4730153 nor rs2110385 were associated with particular clinicopathologic characteristics in LUAD. However, our previous study reported that the SNP rs4730153 GA genotype was associated with lymph node metastasis in OSCC betel nut chewers, whereas the SNPs rs2110385 and rs61330082 had no relation to OSCC [ 23 ].…”

“…The visfatin SNP rs11977021 has been investigated in other cancers. Our previous investigation found that having the visfatin SNP rs11977021 and the CT + TT genotypes was associated with a lower risk of developing OSCC compared with those with the CC genotype at the same SNP [ 23 ]. In contrast, in another study involving patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, there was no significant association between visfatin rs11977021 and the risk of developing HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC) [ 24 ].…”

“…visfatin rs4730153 is located at the intron region between exon six and seven. Allelic discrimination of four visfatin SNPs: C and T (C/T) alleles of rs11977021, G/A alleles of rs61330082, G/T alleles of rs2110385, and G/A alleles of rs4730153 was performed using the TaqMan SNP Genotyping Assay and the ABI StepOnePlus Real-Time PCR system (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA), as previously described [ 23 , 28 ]. The context sequences of the four visfatin SNP probes on the plus (sense) strand are shown in Table S2 .…”

“…A previous study from our laboratory described how certain visfatin polymorphisms in a cohort of Taiwanese males were associated with higher or lower risks of developing OSCC [ 23 ]. In this study, we explored whether certain visfatin polymorphisms play a similar role in lung adenocarcinoma and act as potential diagnostic or therapeutic targets.…”

“…In this study, we explored whether certain visfatin polymorphisms play a similar role in lung adenocarcinoma and act as potential diagnostic or therapeutic targets. Analyses specifically examined associations between four visfatin single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs11977021, rs61330082, rs2110385, and rs4730153, which have been studied for their association with risk of developing various cancers [ 19 , 23 , 24 , 25 ], EGFR status and clinicopathologic characteristics in LUAD. Our results indicate that visfatin polymorphisms are associated with clinicopathologic staging in LUAD.…”