Objective: To investigate the possible association between the allelic variation of LAPTM4B and the genetic susceptibility of lung cancer.
Methods: The genotype of LAPTM4B was analyzed in 134 unrelated healthy adult individuals and 166 patients with lung cancer by utilizing polymerase chain reaction based on special primers. The genotypical distribution of LAPTM4B was analyzed by chi2 test.
Results: The allelic frequencies of the *2 were 40.1% and 28.0% in the lung cancer group and the healthy control group respectively, which was significantly different between the two groups (P=0.002). There was a significant difference in the overall genotypical distribution between the patients and the controls (P=0.005). The risk of suffering from lung cancer was increased 1.91 times in the individuals of the *1/2 genotype (95%CI: 1.178-3.110) and 3.26 times in the individuals of the *2/2 genotype of LAPTM4B (95%CI: 1.338-7.929) compared with the *1/2 genotype. No association was observed between the genotypical distribution of LAPTM4B and the clinical information on patients of lung cancer such as gender, age, pathological type, differentiation classification of TNM and infection of HBV.
Conclusion: This study suggests that the allele *2 of LAPTM4B might be the risk factor of lung cancer, which could be associated with genetic susceptibility of lung cancer.