Lysyl oxidase genetic variants and the prognosis of glioma

Lysyl oxidase (LOX) is a copper-dependent amine oxidase that plays important roles in the development and homeostasis of primary brain tumors such as glioma. The aim of this study was to investigate whether polymorphisms in the LOX gene were associated with susceptibility to glioma. We tested two functional polymorphisms of LOX, -22G/C and 473G/A, and compared them between 466 glioma cases and 502 healthy controls in the Chinese population. Results showed that the prevalence of 473AA genotype was significantly increased in cases than in controls (p=0.001). Individuals who carried 473A allele had a 1.44-fold of increased risk for glioma than those with 473G allele (p=0.002). In addition, when analyzing the survival time of glioma patients with LOX 473G/A polymorphism, cases with AA genotype had significantly shorter survival time compared to the patients carrying G allele (25.0months vs 43.0months, p=0.0009). These results suggested that polymorphism in LOX gene was associated with increased susceptibility to glioma and could be used as prognostic factor for this malignancy.