KRAS gene polymorphisms are associated with the risk of glioma: a two-center case-control study

Qian Guan; Li Yuan; Ao Lin; Huiran Lin; Xiaokai Huang; Jichen Ruan; Zhenjian Zhuo

doi:10.21037/tp-20-359

KRAS gene polymorphisms are associated with the risk of glioma: a two-center case-control study

Transl Pediatr. 2021 Mar;10(3):579-586. doi: 10.21037/tp-20-359.

Authors

Qian Guan^{1

2}, Li Yuan³, Ao Lin², Huiran Lin⁴, Xiaokai Huang⁵, Jichen Ruan³, Zhenjian Zhuo^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
² Department of Pediatric Surgery, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Research in Structural Birth Defect Disease, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou, China.
³ Department of Pathology, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou, China.
⁴ Faculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China.
⁵ Department of Hematology, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China.

Abstract

Background: Glioma, also known as neuroglioma, is the most common primary tumors of the central nervous system. Many previous studies have reported associations between RAS gene polymorphisms and multiple tumors. However, the role of RAS gene polymorphisms on glioma risk has not been investigated.

Methods: We conducted a two-center case-control study to investigate whether the RAS gene polymorphisms predispose individuals to gliomas in 248 healthy controls and 191 glioma patients. RAS gene polymorphisms (rs12587 G>T, rs7973450 A>G, rs7312175 G>A in KRAS, rs2273267 A>T in NRAS) were genotyped by the TaqMan assay. The relationship between RAS gene functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and the risk of glioma was evaluated based on odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results: Individuals with KRAS rs7312175 GA genotype were more likely to develop glioma than those with GG genotype (adjusted OR =1.66, 95% CI: 1.05-2.64, P=0.030). However, the other three SNPs could not affect glioma risk. In stratified analysis of age, gender, subtypes, and clinical stages, rs7312175 GA carriers were more likely to develop glioma in the following subgroups: children less than 60 months, tumor derived from the astrocytic tumors, and clinical stages I.

Conclusions: The study showed that polymorphism rs7312175 GA in the KRAS gene was associated with increased glioma susceptibility. Further investigation is warranted to confirm these findings and to better elucidate the involved biological pathways.

Keywords: Glioma; KRAS; NRAS; cancer susceptibility; polymorphism.