Association of TGF-β1 and XPD polymorphisms with severe acute radiation-induced esophageal toxicity in locally advanced lung cancer patients treated with radiotherapy

PurposeRadiation-induced esophageal toxicity (RIET) is a dose-limiting toxicity in lung cancer patients receiving radiotherapy. Accumulating evidence indicates that DNA repair and the cytokine pathways play essential roles in radiation-induced diseases. Genetic polymorphisms of genes in these pathways may affect gene function and/or gene expression and lead to different treatment-related esophageal toxicity.Materials and methodsThis study investigated the association of 21 polymorphisms in 14 genes, with the occurrence of ⩾grade 2 acute RIET. Genotypes were analyzed among 213 stage III lung cancer patients receiving radiotherapy.ResultsWe used Cox proportional hazard model to examine the effects of genotypes on ⩾grade 2 acute RIET risk and Kaplan–Meier estimator to compare effects of different genotypes on such risk. Multivariate analysis showed that CT or TT genotype of TGF-β1-509C/T polymorphism was associated with a significantly higher RIET risk (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 2.47; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.17–5.24; P = 0.018, or HR = 3.86; 95% CI = 1.50–9.92; P = 0.005), respectively, compared with the CC genotype. Moreover, Lys/Gln+Gln/Gln genotypes of XPD Lys751Gln polymorphism were also associated with a significantly decreased RIET risk (adjusted HR = 0.55; 95% CI = 0.32–0.96; P = 0.030).ConclusionsThis report, for the first time, examined the influence of inherited variation in the DNA repair and the cytokine pathways on RIET.