Association of +405C>G and +936C>T Polymorphisms of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Gene with Sporadic Breast Cancer in North Indians

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), an endothelial cell specific mitogen, has beenimplicated as a critical factor influencing tumor related angiogenesis. The aim of present study was to evaluatethe relationship between VEGF +936C>T and +405C>G polymorphisms of VEGF with risk of breast cancerin Punjab, India. Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: We screened DNA samples of 192 sporadic breast cancer patientsand 192 unrelated healthy, gender and age matched control individuals for VEGF +936C>T and +405C>Gpolymorphisms using the PCR-RFLP method. <br/><b>Results</b>: For the VEGF +405C>G polymorphism, we observedsignificantly increased frequency of GG genotype in cases as compared to controls and strong association of+405GG genotype was observed with three fold risk for breast cancer (OR=3.07; 95%CI 1.41-6.65; p=0.003).For the +936C>T polymorphism, significant associations of CT and combined CT+TT genotypes were observedwith elevated risk of breast cancer (p=0.021; 0.023). The combined genotype combinations of GG-CC and GGCTof +405C>G and +936C>T polymorphisms were found to be significantly associated with increased risk ofbreast cancer (p=0.04; 0.0064). <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: The findings of the present study indicated significant associationsof VEGF +936C>T and +405C>G polymorphisms with increased breast cancer risk in patients from Punjab,North India.