Single-nucleotide polymorphisms of allergy-related genes and risk of adult glioma

Previous studies have shown an inverse association between allergies and glioma risk; however, results for associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of allergy-related genes and glioma risk have been inconsistent and restricted to a small number of SNPs. The objective of this study was to examine the association between 166 SNPs of 21 allergy-related genes and glioma risk in a nested case-control study of participants from three large US prospective cohort studies. Blood collection took place between 1982 and 1994 among the 562 included Caucasian participants (143 cases and 419 matched controls) prior to case diagnosis. Custom Illumina assay chips were used for genotyping. Logistic regression analyses, controlling for age and study cohort, were used to determine associations between each SNP and glioma risk. Statistically significant associations were found between rs2494262 and rs2427824 of the FCER1A gene, which encodes the alpha chain of the high affinity immunoglobulin E receptor, and glioma risk (nominal trend p values 0.01 and 0.03, respectively). Significant associations were also found between SNPs in IL10, ADAM33, NOS1 and IL4R and glioma risk. However, our analyses were not corrected for multiple comparisons and need to be interpreted with caution. Our findings with FCER1A SNPs provide further support for the link between allergies and risk of glioma.