A common polymorphism in the 3′UTR of cyclooxygenase 2/prostaglandin synthase 2 gene and risk of lung cancer in a Chinese population

Cyclooxygenases (COXs) are key enzymes that convert arachidonic acid to prostaglandins. Overexpression of COX-2, one of the COX isozymes, has been shown to be an early event in lung carcinogenesis and may play an important role in lung cancer development. A common single nucleotide polymorphism, T8473C, located within a potential functional region in the 3′UTR of COX-2 gene was identified and we hypothesized that this COX-2 variant is associated with lung cancer risk. To test this hypothesis, we genotyped this variant in a case-control study of 322 histologically-confirmed lung cancer patients and 323 age and sex frequency-matched cancer-free controls in a Chinese population. The results showed that the frequencies of variant genotypes 8473CT/CC were significantly less common in the cases (27.3%) than in the controls (35.3%) (P = 0.034), suggesting that the 8473C allele was protective against lung cancer. Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that the COX-2 variant genotypes (8473CT/CC) were associated with a significantly decreased risk of lung cancer compared with the 8473TT wild-type homozygotes (OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.45-0.92). When we defined the reference group as non-smokers having the 8473CT/CC variant genotypes, the smokers with the 8473TT wild-type genotype had the greatest risk (adjusted OR = 5.28, 95% CI = 3.10-9.00). These findings indicate that the COX-2 T8473C polymorphism may contribute to lung cancer susceptibility in the Chinese population. Further larger molecular epidemiological studies are warranted to confirm these findings.