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Age at diagnosis and gender modify the risk of 9q22 and 14q13 polymorphisms for papillary thyroid carcinoma
Wiek zachorowania i płeć jako czynniki modyfikujące związek polimorfizmów zlokalizowanych na chromosomie 9q22 i 14q13 z rakiem brodawkowatym tarczycy
1Department of Nuclear Medicine and Endocrine Oncology, Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Centre and Institute of Oncology, Gliwice Branch, Poland
2Institute of Automatic Control, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland
3Department of Genomic Medicine, Medical University of Warsaw, Poland
4Centre of New Technologies, CENT, University of Warsaw, Poland
5Clinic of Oncology and Reconstructive Surgery, Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Centre and Institute of Oncology, Gliwice Branch, Poland
Abstract
Introduction: Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) shows familial occurrence, and some susceptibility single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified in FOXE1 and near the NKX2-1 locus. The aim of our study was to analyse the association of PTC risk with SNPs in FOXE1 (rs965513, rs1867277, rs1443434) and near the NKX2-1 locus (rs944289) in a Polish population, and, in the second step, the interaction between SNPs and patient-related factors (age at diagnosis and gender).
Material and methods: A total of 2243 DNA samples from PTC patients and 1160 controls were included in the study. The SNP analysis was performed with the allelic discrimination technique.
Results: There were significant associations of all SNPs with PTC (rs965513 odds ratio [OR] = 1.72, p = 8 × 10-7; rs1867277 OR = 1.59, p = 1 × 10-6; rs1443434 OR = 1.53, p = 1 × 10-5; rs944289 OR = 1.52, p = 4 × 10-5). Logistic regression analysis revealed an increased PTC risk in the interaction of rs944289 with age at diagnosis (OR = 1.01 per year, p = 6 × 10-4) and a decreased PTC risk in the interaction of male gender with the GGT FOXE1 protective haplotype (OR = 0.69, p = 0.01).
Conclusions: The association between PTC and all analysed SNPs was confirmed. It was also shown that patient-related factors modify the predisposition to PTC by increasing the risk for rs944289 per year of age, and by enhancing the protective effect of the FOXE1 GGT haplotype in men. (Endokrynol Pol 2017; 68 (3): 283–289)
Key words: SNP; carcinoma papillare; age at diagnosis; gender
Streszczenie
Wstęp: Brodawkowaty rak tarczycy należy do grupy nowotworów litych, w których uwarunkowanie genetyczne ogrywa istotną rolę. Geny odpowiedzialne za predyspozycje do raka brodawkowatego nie są dobrze znane, choć polimorfizmy rs965513 i rs944289 obecnie są uznanymi czynnikami ryzyka. Celem pracy była analiza związku polimorfizmów znajdujących się w 9q22 w locus genu FOXE1 (rs965513, rs1867277, rs1443434) oraz w 14q13 w pobliżu genu NKX2-1 (rs944289) z rakiem brodawkowatym tarczycy oraz ocena wpływu czynników zależnych od pacjenta (wieku zachorowania i płci).
Materiał i metody. Materiał obejmował 2243 próbek DNA izolowanych z limfocytów krwi obwodowej pacjentów z rakiem brodawkowatym i 1160 próbek DNA pochodzących od osób zdrowych, stanowiących grupę kontrolną (liczba analizowanych próbek różniła się w zależności od polimorfizmu). Badania wykonano w aparacie 7900HT Fast Real-Time PCR System firmy Applied Biosystems techniką dyskryminacji alleli.
Wyniki. Znamienny związek z rakiem brodawkowatym wykazywały wszystkie analizowane polimorfizmy (dla rs965513 wartość OR wynosiła 1,72, p = 8 × 10-7; dla rs1867277 OR = 1,58, p = 1 × 10-6; dla rs1443434 OR = 1,53, p = 1 × 10-5; rs944289 OR = 1,52, p = 4 × 10-5). Analiza regresji logistycznej wykazała wzrost ryzyka raka brodawkowatego wraz z wiekiem dla polimorfizmu rs944289 (OR = 1.01 na rok, p = 6 × 10-4) oraz obniżenie ryzyka zachorowania dla haplotypu GGT genu FOXE1 u mężczyzn (OR = 0,69, p = 0,01).
Wnioski. Potwierdzony został związek badanych polimorfizmów z rakiem brodawkowatym tarczycy w populacji polskiej. Wykazano modyfikujący wpływ wieku zachorowania i płci męskiej na ryzyko zachorowania uwarunkowane genetycznie. (Endokrynol Pol 2017; 68 (3): 283–289)
Słowa kluczowe: polimorfizm; rak brodawkowaty tarczycy; wiek zachorowania; płeć
This work was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland (grant numbers N N402 193740 and UMO-2013/08/M/ST6/00924).
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Dorota Kula M.D., Department of Nuclear Medicine and Endocrine Oncology, Maria Skłodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Centre and Institute of Oncology, Gliwice Branch, Wybrzeże Armii Krajowej 15, 44–101 Gliwice, Poland, phone: +48 32 278 9720, fax: +48 32 278 9457, e-mail: dorota.kula@io.gliwice.pl
Introduction
Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is the most frequently diagnosed differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) [1, 2]. Genetic predisposition to PTC is the highest of all cancers not displaying Mendelian inheritance [3–6]. This predisposition is expected to be multigenetic, with interactions among genes and environmental factors determining individual susceptibility [2, 4]; however, the genes responsible for PTC are poorly known. To date, genetic studies have identified some single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with DTCs or PTC, although only some of them have been validated [1, 7]. In 2009 Gudmundsson et al. identified SNPs associated with PTC: rs965513, located upstream of the FOXE1 gene on chromosome 9q22.33; and rs944289, located upstream of the NKX-2 gene on chromosome 14q13.3 [5]. At the same time, Landa et al. demonstrated an association between PTC and another SNP located in the 5-untranslated region of the FOXE1 – rs1867277 [4]. However, to date, only a few studies have been performed to assess the association of these SNPs with some clinical features of PTC [5, 8, 9]. To our knowledge, no study has analysed the mutual interactions between identified SNPs and their association with patient-related factors, like gender and age at PTC diagnosis.
In the present study, we first analysed the association of SNPs in the FOXE1 locus (rs965513, rs1867277, rs1443434) and near the NKX2-1 gene (rs944289) with PTC. Next, we evaluated the interactions between these SNPs and their associations with gender and age at PTC diagnosis.
Material and methods
Samples and subjects
A total of 2243 DNA samples derived from PTC patients and 1160 samples from controls were analysed. All subjects were Caucasians of Polish origin. There were 1925 (85.8%) women in the PTC group and 949 (81.8%) women in the control group. The median age at diagnosis of PTC was 48 years (first–third quartile: 37–57 years). The median age for the control group was 45 years (first–third quartile: 33–54 years). The number of samples analysed differed depending on the SNP and DNA availability (Table I). Only samples with all SNPs evaluated were included in the linkage disequilibrium (LD), haplotype frequency, and logistic regression analyses (Table II, III, IV, and VI, respectively).
Table I. Genotype distribution of analysed SNP among PTC patients and controls
Tabela I. Rozkład genotypów badanych polimorfizmów w grupie chorych z rakiem brodawkowatym i w grupie kontrolnej
Sample | Median Age (Q1-Q3) |
Females (%) | Males (%) | N | Genotype | Allele frequency | OR (95% Cl) | p-value | Bonferroni- corrected p-value | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
rs965513* risk allele: A | AA (%) | AG (%) | GG (%) | A | G | ||||||||
PTC | 47 (37-56) | 717 (86.1) | 116 (13.9) | 833 | 196 (23.5) | 406 (48.7) | 231 (27.7) | 0.48 | 0.52 | 1.72 (1.40-2.11) | 2 × 10-7 | 8 × 10-7 | |
Controls | 44 (33-54) | 699 (82.7) | 146 (17.3) | 845 | 125 (14.8) | 384 (45.4) | 336 (39.8) | 0.38 | 0.62 | ||||
rs1867277* risk allele: A |
AA (%) | AG (%) | GG (%) | A | G | ||||||||
PTC | 48 (37-57) | 1481 (85.9) | 243 (14.1) | 1724 | 405 (23.5) | 879 (51.0) | 440 (25.5) | 0.49 | 0.51 | 1.59 (1.33-1.89) | 3 × 10-7 | 1 × 10-6 | |
Controls | 44 (33-54) | 721 (83.0) | 148 (17.0) | 869 | 158 (18.2) | 405 (46.6) | 306 (35.2) | 0.41 | 0.59 | ||||
rs1443434* risk allele: G | GG (%) | GT (%) | TT (%) | G | T | ||||||||
PTC | 48 (37-57) | 1523 (85.6) | 256 (14.4) | 1779 | 413 (23.2) | 909 (51.1) | 457 (25.7) | 0.49 | 0.51 | 1.53 (1.28-1.84) | 3 × 10-6 | 1 × 10-5 | |
Controls | 44 (33.5-54) | 651 (82.6) | 137 (17.4) | 788 | 145 (18.4) | 370 (47.0) | 273 (34.6) | 0.42 | 0.58 | ||||
rs944289* risk allele: T | TT (%) | TC (%) | CC (%) | T | C | ||||||||
PTC | 48 (37-57) | 1925 (85.8) | 318 (14.2) | 2243 | 877 (39.1) | 1049 (46.8) | 317 (14.1) | 0.63 | 0.37 | 1.52 (1.26-1.83) | 1 × 10-5 | 4 × 10-5 | |
Controls | 45 (33-54) | 949 (81.8) | 211 (18.2) | 1160 | 364 (31.4) | 564 (48.6) | 232 (20.0) | 0.56 | 0.44 |
Table II. Linkage disequilibrium for SNPs located in the FOXE1 locus
Tabela II. Analiza nierównowagi sprzężeń dla polimorfizmów zlokalizowanych w locus genu FOXE1
PTC N = 663 |
Controls N = 590 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
D’ | χ2 | p-value | D’ | χ2 | p-value | |
rs965513:G & rs1867277:G | 0.5371 | 771.3 | < 10-6 | 0.7668 | 1456.5 | < 10-6 |
rs965513:G & rs1443434:T | 0.7889 | 767.8 | < 10-6 | 0.7877 | 1523.6 | < 10-6 |
rs1867277:G & rs1443434:T | 0.9971 | 1431.8 | < 10-6 | 0.9692 | 2571.6 | < 10-6 |
D’ – normalised coefficient of linkage disequilibrium; χ2 – the value of chi-square statistic; SNP – single nucleotide polymorphism; PTC – papillary thyroid carcinoma
Table III. Haplotype frequency of SNPs located in the FOXE1 locus
Tabela III. Częstość haplotypów polimorfizmów zlokalizowanych w locus genu FOXE1
SNP (F0XE1 locus) | Haplotype frequency | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
rs965513 allele | rs1867277 allele | rs1443434 allele | PTC N = 663 |
Controls N = 718 | ||
G | G | T | 0.433026 | 43.3% | 0.536929 | 53.7% |
A | A | G | 0.405090 | 40.5% | 0.325230 | 32.5% |
G | A | G | 0.071972 | 7.2% | 0.087027 | 8.7% |
A | G | T | 0.053840 | 5.4% | 0.050119 | 5.0% |
A | A | T | 0.002322 | 0.2% | 0.000696 | 0.1% |
G | A | T | 0.013075 | 1.3% | ||
G | G | G | 0.005306 | 0.5% | ||
A | G | G | 0.015370 | 1.5% |
SNP – single nucleotide polymorphism; PTC – papillary thyroid carcinoma
Table IV. OR values for the most frequent FOXE1 SNP haplotypes
Tabela IV. Wartości OR dla najczęściej występujących haplotypów polimorfizmów genu FOXE1
rs965513 | rs1867277 | rs1443434 | N | OR (95% Cl) | p-value | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Risk haplotype | PTC | A | A | G | 544/1326 (41%) | 1.42(1.21-1.65) | 1.1 × 10-5 |
Controls | A | A | G | 473/1436 (33%) | |||
Protective haplotype | PTC | G | G | T | 581/1326 (43%) | 0.66(0.57-0.77) | 8.0 × 10-8 |
Controls | G | G | T | 777/1436 (54%) |
PTC – papillary thyroid carcinoma; OR – odds ratio; CI – confidence interval; SNP – single nucleotide polymorphism
Table V. Associations of analysed polymorphisms with age at PTC diagnosis
Tabela V. Związek badanych polimorfizmów z wiekiem diagnozy raka brodawkowatego
Age group (years) | N | Genotype | OR (95% Cl) | p-value | Bonferroni- corrected p-value | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
rs965513 risk allele: A | AA (%) | AG (%) | GG (%) | |||||
≤ 45 | 383 | 100 (26.1) | 192 (50.1) | 91 (23.8) | 1.45 (1.06-1.99) | 0.018 | 0.072 | |
> 45 | 450 | 96 (21.3) | 214 (47.6) | 140 (31.1) | ||||
rs1867277 risk allele: A | AA (%) | AG (%) | GG (%) | |||||
≤ 45 | 766 | 158 (20.6) | 415 (54.2) | 193 (25.2) | 1.03 (0.83-1.28) | 0.78 | ns | |
> 45 | 958 | 247 (25.8) | 464 (48.4) | 247 (25.8) | ||||
rs1443434 risk allele: G | GG (%) | GT (%) | TT (%) | |||||
≤ 45 | 790 | 163 (20.6) | 423 (53.6) | 204 (25.8) | 0.99 (0.80-1.22) | 0.91 | ns | |
> 45 | 989 | 250 (25.3) | 486 (49.1) | 253 (25.6) | ||||
rs944289 risk allele: T | TT (%) | TC (%) | CC (%) | |||||
≤ 45 | 995 | 389 (39.1) | 470 (47.2) | 136 (13.7) | 1.07 (0.84-1.36) | 0.57 | ns | |
> 45 | 1248 | 488 (39.1) | 579 (46.4) | 181 (14.5) |
ns – not significant; PTC – papillary thyroid carcinoma; OR – odds ratio for dominant model of inheritance; CI – confidence interval
Table VI. Logistic regression analysis
Tabela VI. Analiza regresji logistycznej
Coefficients Estimate | Standard Error | OR (95% Cl) | p-value | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: 663 PTC cases, 718 controls | ||||
Main effects | ||||
Additive, rs1867277 | -0.26438 | 0.17051 | 0.7677 (0.5496-1.0723) | 0.121015 |
Additive, rs944289 | 0.97571 | 0.20262 | 2.6532 (1.7835-3.9463) | 1.47 × 10-6 |
Additive, protective haplotype GGT | -0.62066 | 0.17172 | 0.5376 (0.3840-0.7527 | 0.000301 |
Interactions | ||||
Age (per year): rs944289 | 0.01367 | 0.00399 | 1.0138 (1.0059-1.0217) | 0.000610 |
Gender (male): additive, protective haplotype GGT | -0.35705 | 0.14209 | 0.6997 (0.5296-0.9245) | 0.011979 |
AlCc | 1856.16 | |||
Residual deviance | 1844.1 |
AICc – Akaike’s Information Criteria-corrected; OR – odds ratio; CI – confidence interval
PTC cases were recruited among thyroid cancer patients from all over Poland, who were referred for treatment to the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Centre and Institute of Oncology, Gliwice Branch. Data on thyroid cancer histopathology, patient gender, and age at diagnosis were extracted from medical records. Control subjects were recruited among consenting volunteers (from the population in general, from workers of the Institute of Oncology, and the persons accompanying the patients attending the Institute, not related to the patients) and were derived from the same populations as the cases. In all control subjects, thyroid cancer was excluded by anamnesis and thyroid ultrasound. The study was performed with approval from the Local Bioethics Committee, and written, informed consent was obtained from all participants.
DNA extraction and SNP analysis
DNA was isolated from the whole blood. Two main DNA extraction methods were used, i.e., the salting-out method and the anion exchange membrane column separation method (Genomic Maxi AX Blood; A&A Biotechnology, Gdynia, Poland), performed according to the manufacturer’s protocols. Initial screening of DNA purity was determined based on evaluation of the optical density ratio at 260/280 nm.
The SNP analysis with the allelic discrimination technique was performed on 384-well plates (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA) using the 7900HT Fast Real-Time PCR System (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA). Reactions were performed in a final volume 5.1 μl per sample, containing 0.125 μl of 40X TaqMan® SNP Genotyping Assay (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA), 2.5 μl of 2X TaqMan Genotyping Master Mix (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA), and 2.5 μl of DNA (at concentrations of 3 ng/μl).
Statistical analysis
STATISTICA 6 software was used to evaluate the genotypes frequency. The odds ratios (ORs) were calculated with their 95% confidence intervals (CI). The deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for each polymorphism was verified. Due to multiple testing, the Bonferroni correction was applied to p-values resulting from χ2 tests. Haplotype frequencies were estimated with the use of the EM algorithm. Logistic regression analysis was performed to model the effects of analysed SNPs and FOXE1 haplotypes, corrected for age at diagnosis and gender. For the logistic regression, the Akaike’s Information Criterion-corrected (AICc) value was used to evaluate models. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.
Results
Association of SNPs with risk of PTC
All analysed SPNs were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium both in the case and control groups. The genotype distributions, allele frequencies, and ORs for all SNPs are presented in Table 1. A significant association for all analysed SNPs was observed regarding all models of inheritance: genotypic, allelic, dominant, and recessive (data not shown). Only OR values for the dominant model are included in Table I: 1.72, 1.59, 1.53, 1.52 for rs965513, rs1867277, rs1443434, and rs944289, respectively; all of them significant after Bonferroni correction.
SNPs located in the FOXE1 locus (rs965513, rs1867277, rs1443434) were in LD (pairwise D’ ranged from 0.5371 to 0.9971 with p values < 10-6) (Table II). AAG FOXE1 haplotype was more frequent in PTC cases than in controls (40.5% vs. 32.5%), and its presence was significantly associated with PTC risk (OR= 1.42, p = 1.1 × 10-5) (Table III). By contrast, there was a lower frequency of GGT haplotype in PTC patients than in controls (43.3% versus 53.7%), and this haplotype was significantly associated with a reduced risk of PTC (OR = 0.66, p = 8 × 10-8) (Table IV).
Association of SNPs with age at diagnosis and gender
The PTC patients were divided into two subgroups with the reference to the age at diagnosis: ≤ 45 years, and > 45 years. (Table V). Differences were observed only for rs965513, but they were not significant after Bonferroni correction. We did not observe any difference in genotype distribution between women and men in the univariate analysis (data not shown).
Logistic regression
In the first step of the analysis, evaluation of individual effects of age and gender was performed - both of them were significantly associated with PTC risk (p = 0.0032 and 0.0375; AICc = 1907.5 and 1911.9, respectively). Next, models of inheritance were evaluated. For all analysed SNPs and FOXE1 locus haplotypes, the additive model emerged with the lowest AICc value. Finally, based on the AICc, rs1867277, rs944289, the GGT protective haplotype, age at diagnosis, and gender were included into the final regression analysis (Table VI), which showed an increased risk of PTC for rs944289 (OR = 2.65, p = 1.47 × 10-6) and a decreased risk for the GGT haplotype (OR = 0.54, p = 3 × 10-4). Moreover, analysis of interactions revealed an enhanced risk for rs944289 per year of age (OR = 1.014, p = 6 × 10-4) and an enhanced protective effect of the GGT haplotype in men (OR = 0.699, p = 0.012).
Discussion
We observed the association of the rs965513, rs1867277, rs1443434, and rs944289 SNPs with PTC, and two of them (rs1867277 and rs1443434) have not yet been analysed in a Polish population. The association of rs1867277 with PTC was first described by Landa et al., based on a case-control study [4], while rs1443434 b was first described by Gudmundsson et al. in a GWAS [5] – the results were similar to those obtained in our study. The association of rs965513 and rs944289 with PTC was analysed by Liyanarachchi et al. in cohorts from Poland and the United States [2], with results that are in accordance with our study.
The association of rs965513, rs1867277, rs944289, and rs1443434 with PTC has been confirmed in different populations in recent years [8–17]. Moreover, four meta-analyses concerning the roles of rs965513, rs1867277, and rs944289 in PTC have been published: the association of rs965513 has been confirmed among both Caucasians and Asians, rs1867277 SNP was analysed and confirmed in Caucasians [18–20], whereas rs944289 was associated with PTC in Asians, Europeans, and Americans [21].
The SNPs rs1867277 and rs965513 in the FOXE1 locus are in moderate pairwise LD in Europeans [12, 13]; however, these two SNPs were found to be more strongly correlated in a Belarusian population [17]. LD between rs965513 and rs1867277 is significantly weaker in populations of African or Asian ancestry [20], which is not surprising, since the LD block structure may be different in individuals of different ancestry [22]. In our study we observed LD between rs965513, rs1867277, and rs1443434; however, that between rs1867277 and rs1443434 was the strongest. Our analysis of rs965513/rs1867277/rs1443434 FOXE1 haplotypes showed an increased risk of PTC for the AAG haplotype and a reduced risk for the GGT haplotype. Similar results were obtained by Jones et al. [13], who showed that carriers of haplotypes consisting of both risk alleles of rs965513 and rs1867277 in a population from the United Kingdom had the highest risk of developing thyroid cancer [13]. A significant association also was observed for a haplotype in 9q22 consisting of a FOXE1 polymorphism: rs965513/rs10759944/rs1867277 in thyroid cancer families [14].
In our study, some differences in the genotype distributions of rs965513 were observed between younger (diagnosed at ≤ 45 years of age) and older (diagnosed at > 45 years of age) patients, although these differences were not significant after Bonferroni correction. We did not observe differences in genotype distribution between women and men in the univariate analysis (data not shown). To integrate the results concerning the genotype distribution of rs965513, rs1867277, rs1443434, and rs944289 and their association with patient-related factors (age at PTC diagnosis and gender), we performed a logistic regression analysis. Multivariate analysis showed an increased risk of PTC for rs944289. A decreased risk was observed for the GGT FOXE1 haplotype. Moreover, analysis of interactions revealed that risk for rs944289 was increased per year of age, and male gender enhanced the protective effect of the FOXE1 GGT haplotype.
Only a few studies have been performed to assess the association of the analysed SNPs with PTC clinical features [5, 8, 9, 16]. To our knowledge, only one previous study has evaluated the association between age at diagnosis and genetic predisposition, which showed a higher frequency of rs965513 A allele carriers among PTC patients diagnosed at a younger age [5]. Furthermore, only one study has analysed the differences between genders, which showed that rs965513 was significantly associated with PTC among both women and men [8].
The female-to-male ratio of thyroid cancer in European patients is 2.2 [23], and these sex differences in thyroid cancer occurrence have been attributed to different endogenous hormone profiles between the genders. The protective hormonal effects on the development of thyroid cancer in females have been reported, but the mechanism remains unclear [24]. However, opposite effects were recently observed in rats. Fortunato et al. showed that a redox imbalance elicited by oestrogen could be involved in the sex differences found in the prevalence of thyroid dysfunctions [25]. They observed sexual dimorphism in the thyrocyte redox balance, which was characterised by increased hydrogen peroxide production due to higher NOX4 and Poldip2 gene expression and weakened enzymatic antioxidant defence in the thyroids of adult female rats compared with male rats [25]. These findings could lead to the hypothesis that the same genetic background has a different effect in males and females because of different hormone profiles, which would explain the observed enhancement of the protective effect of the FOXE1 GGT haplotype in men in our study. Thus, the presence of the protective haplotype of the FOXE1 gene, a thyroid transcription factor gene involved in thyroid peroxidase (TPO) transcription [4, 5], might only reveal its protective effect in males and not females because of the interacting effects of oestrogens. Oestrogens have a general stimulatory effect on thyroid function, at least in rats, by increasing iodide uptake and TPO activity, as well as H2O2 production [25], which, as a reactive oxygen species, causes DNA damage, which could lead to the higher frequency of thyroid cancer development in women.
Conclusions
We have confirmed the association of PTC with SNPs in the FOXE1 locus on chromosome region 9q22.33 (rs965513, rs1867277, rs1443434) and one SNP (rs944289) near the NKX2-1 gene on chromosome 14q13.3 in a Polish population. The importance of FOXE1 haplotypes was demonstrated in our population. Logistic regression revealed interesting new interactions: the risk of PTC in carriers of the rs944289 SNP was increased per year of age, and a stronger protective effect of the GGT FOXE1 haplotype was observed in men. Thus, patient-related factors appear to modify the genetic predisposition to PTC, at least in our population. To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate these four SNPs and their associations with patient-related factors in the same patient set.
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