Association of breast cancer and cytokine gene polymorphism in Turkish women

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association of cytokine gene polymorphism with the development of breast cancer.

METHODS: The study was carried out in Uludag University Medical School, Bursa, Turkey. The study included 38 patients with breast cancer admitted to the Medical Oncology outpatient clinic, and 24 healthy controls, age and sex matched, from the Internal Medicine Department between 2004 and 2005. All genotyping of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), tumor growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1), interleukin (IL)-10, IL-6, and interferon-y (IFN-y) experiments were performed using polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific primers.

RESULTS: The frequencies of IL-6-174GC genotype and IL-10 (-1082, -819, -592) GCC/ATA haplotype were significantly higher in the patient group (p=0.0008) when compared with controls (p=0.020). Significantly lower frequencies of IL-10 (-1082, -819, -592) ACC/ATA haplotype were observed in the patient group in comparison to the controls (p=0.026). The distribution of IFN-y +874, TNF-alpha 308, and TGF-beta1 codon 10-25 genotypes failed to show any statistical significant association with the development of breast cancer.

CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that IL-10 (-1082, -819, -592) GCC/ATA haplotype and IL-6-174 GC genotype seem to be potential risk factors for the development of breast cancer. The presence of IL-10ACC/ATA haplotype may be protective for the oncogenesis of breast cancer.