Colorectal cancer. Genetic variants in BMP signaling pathway and ancestry in the Mexican population.

Introduction: Genetic variants related to bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP2, BMP4, GREM1, SMAD7) signaling pathway have been associated with colorectal cancer, mainly in Caucasian populations.

Objective: To describe the association of variants in members of the BMP signaling pathway in a Mexican population, characterized by its indigenous American and Caucasian ancestry.

Methods: Genotyping of 1,000 colorectal cancer cases and 1,043 control individuals recruited in Mexico City, Monterrey, and Torreón was carried out using the Sequenom platform. Associations between colorectal cancer and variants were studied with univariate and multivariate analyses.

Results: Variants rs4444235, rs12953717 and rs4939827 replicated the association with the neoplasm (p ≤ 0.05). Caucasian ancestry showed association with the tumor.

Conclusions: The study replicated the associations between colorectal cancer and SMAD7 and BMP4 variants, with an association being observed with the Caucasian component of the ethnic mix.