Two novel polymorphisms in PLCE1 are associated with the susceptibility to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Chinese population

Esophageal cancer is the sixth leading cause of cancer-associated death worldwide. Phospholipase C epsilon 1 (PLCE1) gene was found to be associated with the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) by three large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in Chinese populations. To evaluate the association between the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in PLCE1 gene and ESCC risk, a case-control study including 550 patients with ESCC and 550 age, gender-matched controls was carried out to investigate the genetic susceptibility of three SNPs (rs3765524 C/T and two unreported potentially functional SNPs rs10882379 G/A and rs829232 G/A) as well as the interactions of gene-gene and gene-environment in the development of ESCC. And the results showed that GA genotype of rs10882379 was significantly associated with reduced ESCC risk compared with GG genotype (adjusted OR [95% CI]: 0.66 [0.51, 0.86]), while AA genotype of rs829232 was significantly associated with increased ESCC risk compared with GG genotype (adjusted OR [95% CI]: 1.37 [1.12, 1.67]). The haplotype analysis showed increased ESCC risk in G(rs10882379)C(rs3765524)A(rs829232) and G(rs10882379)T(rs3765524)A(rs829232) haplotypes with OR (95% CI) of 1.40 (1.13, 1.73) and 1.66 (1.18, 2.34), respectively and inversely reduced ESCC risk in A(rs10882379)C(rs3765524)G(rs829232) haplotype with OR (95% CI) of 0.74 (0.61, 0.91). The gene-environment interaction analysis emerged a best model consisted of four factors (rs10882379, rs3765524, rs829232 and family history of ESCC) that could increase the ESCC risk in the 'high risk group' with 4.45-fold (OR [95% CI]: 5.45 [4.13, 7.19]), compared to the 'low risk group.' Our results further validate that the SNPs in PLCE1 gene may contribute to the ESCC susceptibility in Chinese Han population. Also the gene-gene and gene-environment interactions play a certain crucial role in the ESCC progression.