Single nucleotide polymorphism WRN Leu1074Phe is associated with prostate cancer susceptibility in Chinese subjects

Deficiencies in the human DNA repair gene WRN are the cause of Werner syndrome, a rare auto-somal recessive disorder characterized by premature aging and a predisposition to cancer. This study evaluated the association of Pf7?A^LeulO74Phe (rsl801195), a common missense single nucleotide polymorphism in WRN, with prostate cancer susceptibility in Chinese subjects. One hundred and forty-seven prostate cancer patients and 111 male cancer-free control subjects from 3 university hospitals in China were included. Blood samples were obtained from each subject, and the single nucleotide polymorphism WRN LeulO74Phe was genotyped by using a Snapshot assay. The results showed that WRN LeulO74Phe was associated with the risk of prostate cancer in Chinese men and that the TG/GG genotype displayed a decreased prevalence of prostate cancer compared with the TT genotype (OR = 0.58, 95%CI: 0.35-0.97, p - 0.039). Through stratified analysis, more significant associations were revealed for the TG/GG genotype in the subgroup with diagnosis age < 72 yr (OR = 0.27, 95%CI: 0.120.61, p = 0.002) and in patients with localized diseases (OR = 0.36, 95%CI: 0.190.70, p = 0.003). However, no statistically significant difference was found in the subgroup with age >72 yr or in patients with advanced diseases. We concluded that the genetic variant LeulO74Phe in the DNA repair gene WRN might play a role in the risk of prostate cancer in Chinese subjects.