Association of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in PIM-1 Gene with the Risk of Korean Lung Cancer / Journal of the Korean Cancer Association, 대한암학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The expression of the PIM-1 gene, which is a proto-oncogene that encodes a serine/threonine kinase, is associated with multiple cellular functions such as proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and tumorigenesis. In particular, several studies have reported that the PIM-1 gene is associated with the development of lymphoma, leukemia and prostate cancer. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the association between the single nucleotide polymorphisms in the PIM-1 gene and the risk of lung cancer occurrence in the Korean population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To evaluate the role of the PIM-1 gene in the development of lung cancer, the genotypes of the PIM-1 gene were determined in 408 lung cancer patients and 410 normal subjects. RESULTS: We found that the T-C-T-C haplotypes of the PIM-1 gene (-1196 T>C, IVS4 +55 T>C, IVS4 +1416 T>A and +3684 C>A) were associated with an increased risk of lung cancer [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 3.98; 95% CI 1.24~12.75, p-value 0.020]. In particular, these haplotypes showed an increased risk of lung cancer in males (aOR 5.67; 95% CI 1.32~24.30, p-value 0.019) and smokers (aOR 7.82; 95% CI 1.75~34.98, p-value 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: The present results suggest that the T-C-T-C haplotype of the PIM-1 gene could influence the risk of developing smoking-related lung cancer in the Korean population. Additional functional studies with an larger sample sized analysis are warranted to reconfirm our findings.