The effects of NOS3 Glu298Asp variant on colorectal cancer risk and progression in Turkish population

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), coded by the gene NOS3, may play an important role in uncontrollable cellular growth in several cancer types. Our study was performed to test the association between Glu298Asp polymorphisms in the NOS3 gene and colorectal cancer risk and progression. In this study, NOS3 Glu298Asp polymorphism was genotyped in 84 patients with colorectal cancer and 99 healthy subjects using polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. There were significant differences in the distribution of NOS3 genotypes and frequencies of the alleles between colorectal cancer patients and controls (P = 0.016, P = 0.006, respectively). The increased frequency of NOS3 Glu298Asp homozygotes genotypes in patients who had advanced tumour stage was statistically significant (P = 0.042). Our findings have suggested that NOS3 Glu298Asp polymorphism might be associated with the risk and progression of colorectal cancer in Turkish population.