No Association between Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha Gene Polymorphisms and Lung Cancer Risk

OBJECTIVES: The role of genetic polymorphisms of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) for lung cancer development was evaluated. METHODS: Genotypes of the TNF-α polymorphisms, -1210C>T, -487A>G, -417A>G, IVS1+123G>A, and IVS3+51A>G, were determined in 616 lung cancer cases and 616 lung cancer-free controls. RESULTS: After adjusting for body mass index and smoking, each TNF-α genotype or haplotype composed of five TNF-α single nucleotide polymorphisms did not show an association with lung cancer risk (p>0.05). The statistical power was found to be 88.4%, 89.3%, 93.3%, 69.7%, and 93.9% for 1210C>T, -487A>G, -417A>G, IVS1+123G>A, and IVS3+51A>G, respectively. Furthermore, the effects of each SNP or haplotype on lung cancer risk were not found to be different according to the cell type of lung cancer (p>0.05). In the repeated analysis with only subjects without other diseases related to inflammation, there was also no association between polymorphisms or haplotypes of the TNF-α gene and lung cancer risk (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study found no association between common variants of the TNF-α gene and lung cancer risk.