PURPOSE:
Leptin plays an important
role in the control of
body weight and also has a
growth-factor-like function in
epithelial cells. Abnormal expression of
leptin and
leptin receptor may be associated with
cancer development and progression. We evaluated the relationship among
leptin and
leptin receptors polymorphisms,
body mass index (BMI),
serum leptin concentrations, and clinicopathologic features with
gastric cancer and determined whether they could be the
risk factor of
gastric cancer.
METHODS:
We measured the
serum leptin concentrations of 48 Korean
patients with
gastric cancer and 48 age- and
sex-matched controls. By
polymerase chain reaction-
restriction fragment length polymorphism, we investigated one
leptin gene promoter G-2548A
genotype and four
leptin receptor gene polymorphisms at
codons 223, 109, 343, and 656.
RESULTS:
There was no significant difference between the mean
leptin concentrations of the
patient and
control groups, while BMI was significantly lower in
gastric cancer cases (22.9 +/- 3.6 vs. 24.5 +/- 2.8 kg/m2, P = 0.021). There was significant
association between the LEPR Lys109Arg
genotype and
gastric cancer risk,
heterozygotes for GA
genotype had been proved to increased the
risk of
gastric cancer, and its corresponding
odds ratio was 2.926 (95%
confidence interval, 1.248 to 6.861).
CONCLUSION:
Our results suggested that LEPR
gene Lys109Arg polymorphism is associated with
gastric cancer in Korean
patients.