DNMT3B 579 G>T promoter polymorphism and risk of esophagus carcinoma in Chinese

AIM: To investigate the relationship between 579 G>T polymorphisms in the DNMT3B gene, which is involved in de novo methylation and associated with the risk of esophagus cancer (EC) in Chinese. METHODS: DNMT3B 579 G>T genotypes were determined by PCR-RFLP in 194 EC patients and 210 healthy controls matched for age and sex, who did not receive radiotherapy or chemotherapy for newly diagnosed and histopathologically confirmed EC. RESULTS: In control subjects, the frequency of T/T and G/T genotypes, and T and G alleles was 81.4%, 18.1%, 90.05% and 9.55%, respectively. The distribution of genotypes and allelotypes in the EC patients was not significantly different from that in the controls. When stratified by sex and age, there was still no significant association between the risks of EC and GT and GG genotypes. This study also showed a distinct difference in the distribution of DNMTB and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) between Chinese and Koreans. CONCLUSION: DNMT3B 579 G>T polymorphism may not be a stratification marker to predict the susceptibility to EC, at least in Chinese. DNMT3B promoter SNP is diverse in ethnic populations. (C) 2008 WJG. All rights reserved.