Association of endothelin-converting enzyme-1b C-338A polymorphism with gastric cancer risk: A case–control study

To investigate the association between endothelin-converting enzyme-1b (ECE-1b) C-338A polymorphism and gastric cancer risk, we conducted a hospital-based case–control study of 256 gastric cancer cases and 256 controls matched on age and gender. The genotypes were identified by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. We found that the genotype frequencies were significantly different (P = 0.005) between cases and controls. Compared with the wild genotype CC, the variant genotypes (CA + AA) were associated with a 64% increased risk of gastric cancer [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.64, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15–2.33]. Further stratification analyses indicated that the increased risk was especially noteworthy in older subjects (age ⩾58) (adjusted OR = 1.91, 95% CI 1.18–3.09), women (adjusted OR = 2.30, 95% CI 1.11–4.79) and non-smokers (adjusted OR = 1.79, 95% CI 1.19–2.67). Our results suggest that the ECE-1b C-338A polymorphism may be associated with increased risk of gastric cancer.