FAS-670A/G polymorphism: A biomarker for the metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in a Chinese population

BackgroundFAS-670 A/G single nucleotide polymorphism has been demonstrated to affect the expression of FAS gene by altering the transcriptional activity of FAS gene promoter. Downregulation of FAS with resultant resistance to death signals has been found in many cancers. We carried out a case-control study to investigate the biological significance of this polymorphism in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).MethodsFAS-670 A/G polymorphism was examined in a Chinese population of 237 patients with NPC and 264 control subjects using the polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique.ResultsThere were no significant differences in the genotype or allele distribution of FAS-670 A/G polymorphism between cases and controls. FAS-670 (AG + GG) genotype and G allele showed significant associations with an increasing risk of lymph node metastasis (OR = 2.08, P = 0.01; OR = 1.67, P = 0.011, respectively) and distant metastasis (OR = 3.87, P = 0.015; OR = 1.81, P = 0.03, respectively) of NPC patients. In addition, FAS-670 (AG + GG) genotype showed an increasing incidence of advanced clinical stage, but this finding was not statistically significant (OR = 1.79, P = 0.066).ConclusionThe FAS-670 G allele could be used as a genetic risk marker for the metastasis of NPC patients.