Background: E-cadherin (CDH1), a tumor suppressor gene, encodes a transmembrane glycoprotein that helps in maintaining squamous epithelium integrity of the cervix. We aimed to investigate the association between -160C/A genetic polymorphism in CDH1 and the risk of cervical cancer in Bangladeshi females.
Method: The present case-control study included 117 cervical cancer cases and 147 age-matched controls. The genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood and genotyped by using PCR-RFLP analysis.
Results: Genotyping results demonstrated that the occurrences of normal homozygous (-160C/C), heterozygous (-160C/A) and variant homozygous (-160A/A) genotypes were 64.10, 27.35 and 8.55% in cases, and 77.55, 19.73 and 2.72% in controls, respectively. Compared to normal C/C genotype, variant A/A and combined (C/A+A/A) or 'any A' genotypes exhibited 3.80-fold (95% CI=1.150-12.561, P=0.029) and 1.93-fold (95% CI=1.126-3.323, P=0.017) increased risk of cervical cancer development. The -160C allele was found to be positively linked to cervical cancer incidence and raised the risk by 1.81-fold (OR= 1.814, 95% CI=1.152-2.857, p=0.01). Moreover, women carrying -160A/A variant homozygosity along with an early marital history (<18 years) were more susceptible to cervical cancer development (χ2 =6.605, p=0.037).
Conclusion: The study suggests that the (A/A) and combined (C/A +A/A) genotypes are associated with greater risk of cervical cancer in Bangladeshi women.
Keywords: Bangladesh; Cervical cancer; E-cadherin1; Genetic polymorphism; SNP.