No association between TGF-β1 polymorphisms and risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in a large North African case-control study.

Background: Genetic susceptibility plays a key role in the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and in fact the disease presents with an unusually high incidence in certain regions of the world like North Africa. We investigated the association between polymorphism of the Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and risk of NPC in North Africa. TGF-β1 is a multifunctional cytokine that acts as both a tumor suppressor and a stimulator of cancer development; it has been shown to influence risk of numerous other carcinomas including lung, breast and prostate cancer.

Methods: TGF-β1 polymorphisms C-509T and T869C were studied in a large North African sample of 384 NPC cases and 361 controls, matched for age, sex and urban or rural residence in childhood. Genotypes were determined using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism.

Results: No association was observed between individual single nucleotide polymorphisms or their haplotypes and NPC susceptibility (for TGF-β1 C-509T: OR = 0.74; 95 % CI 0.46 - 1.18; for TGF-β1 T869C: OR = 0.86; 95 % CI 0.56 - 1.31), even when the samples were stratified by age, gender and TNM stage.

Conclusion: Contrary to what has been observed in Asian samples, in our North African sample, the TGF-β1 C-509T and T869C polymorphisms did not substantially influence NPC susceptibility.