Smoking and COX-2 functional polymorphisms interact to increase the risk of gastric cardia adenocarcinoma in Chinese population

Background

Over-expression and increased activity of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 induced by smoking has been implicated in the development of cancer. This study aimed to explore the interaction between smoking and functional polymorphisms of COX-2 in modulation of gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) risk.

Methods and Findings

Three COX-2 polymorphisms, including –1195G>A (rs689466), –765G>C (rs20417), and 587Gly>Arg (rs3218625), were genotyped in 357 GCA patients and 985 controls. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, we found that the –1195AA, –765GC, and 587Arg/Arg genotypes were associated with increased risk of GCA (OR?=?1.50, 95% CI?=?1.05–2.13; OR?=?2.06, 95% CI?=?1.29–3.29 and OR?=?1.67, 95% CI?=?1.04–2.66, respectively). Haplotype association analysis showed that compared with G_?1195-G_?765- G_Gly587Arg, the A_?1195-C_?765-A_Gly587Arg conferred an increased risk of GCA (OR?=?2.49, 95% CI?=?1.54–4.01). Moreover, significant multiplicative interactions were observed between smoking and these three polymorphisms of –1195G>A, –765G>C, and 587Gly>Arg, even after correction by false discovery rate (FDR) method for multiple comparisons (FDR-P _interaction?=?0.006, 5.239×10^?4 and 0.017, respectively). Similarly, haplotypes incorporating these three polymorphisms also showed significant interaction with smoking in the development of GCA (P for multiplicative interaction?=?2.65×10^?6).

Conclusion

These findings indicated that the functional polymorphisms of COX-2, in interaction with smoking, may play a substantial role in the development of GCA.