Association of common polymorphisms in inflammatory genes with risk of developing cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of polymorphisms of genes involved in inflammation in the risk of cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract (UADT).

Methods: We have evaluated the role of polymorphisms in key genes related to inflammation, namely IL1B (rs1143627), COX2/PTGS2 (rs5275), and IL8 (rs4073) in a large case-control study comprising 811 UADT cancer cases and 1,083 controls.

Results: An association was observed for squamous cell carcinoma of the pharynx for a polymorphism in the promoter of the IL1B gene, with an OR of 2.39 (95% CI = 1.19-4.81) for the homozygotes for the minor allele A promoter polymorphism of IL8 was associated with decreased risk of laryngeal cancer, with an OR of 0.70 (95% CI = 0.50-0.98) for carriers of the minor allele.

Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first report on the role of these polymorphisms with respect to UADT carcinogenesis. Our results suggest that inflammation-related polymorphisms play a role, albeit minor, in the risk of developing cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract.