The functional IGFBP7 promoter −418G>A polymorphism and risk of head and neck cancer

Insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 (IGFBP7) functions mostly independent of the IGF signaling pathway and acts as a tumor suppressor in multiple cancers, but roles of IGFBP7 genetic variants in cancer remains unknown. In a hospital-based study of 1065 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck (SCCHN) and 1112 cancer-free controls of non-Hispanic whites, we investigated associations between two putatively functional IGFBP7 promoter single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (−702G>C, rs11573014 and −418G>A, rs4075349) and SCCHN risk. A significantly lower SCCHN risk was observed in those subjects carrying −418AG (adjusted OR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.67–0.99) and −418AG+AA (adjusted OR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.69–0.99) genotypes than those carrying the −418GG genotype, but not for the −702G>C SNP. However, those subjects carrying two common homozygous genotypes of these two SNPs (−418GG and −702GG) had an increased risk (adjusted OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.00–1.46) than did those carrying variant genotypes (−418AG+AA and −702CG+CC). This increased risk was more evident in subgroups of never smokers and subjects with oral cancer. Further functional analysis showed that the IGFBP7 −418A allele had significantly higher promoter and DNA-protein binding activities than did the G allele, suggesting a tumor suppressor role of this allelic change in the SCCHN etiology. We conclude that the functional variant −418G>C in the IGFBP7 promoter is associated with reduced risk of SCCHN, likely by enhancing the IGFBP7 promoter and DNA-protein binding activities. Larger studies are needed to validate our findings.