Patrilineal Background of Esophageal Cancer and Gastric Cardia Cancer Patients in a Chaoshan High-Risk Area in China

The Taihang Mountain range of north-central China, the Southern region area of Fujian province, and the Chaoshan plain of Guangdong province are 3 major regions in China well known for their high incidence of esophageal cancer (EC). These areas also exhibit high incidences of gastric cardia cancer (GCC). The ancestors of the Chaoshanese, now the major inhabitants in the Chaoshan plain, were from north-central China. We hypothesized that EC and GCC patients in Chaoshan areas share a common ancestry with Taihang Mountain patients. We analyzed 16 East Asian-specific Y-chromosome biallelic markers (single nucleotide polymorphisms; Y-SNPs) and 6 Y-chromosome short tandem repeat (Y-STR) loci in 72 EC and 48 GCC patients from Chaoshan and 49 EC and 63 GCC patients from the Taihang Mountain range. We also compared data for 32 Chaoshan Hakka people and 24 members of the aboriginal She minority who live near the Chaoshan area. Analysis was by frequency distribution and principal component, correlation and hierarchical cluster analysis of Y-SNP. Chaoshan patients were closely related to Taihang Mountain patients, even though they are geographically distant. Y-STR analysis revealed that the 4 patient groups were more closely related with each other than with other groups. Network analysis of the haplogroup O3a3c1-M117 showed a high degree of patient-specific substructure. We suggest that EC and GCC patients from these 2 areas share a similar patrilineal genetic background, which may play an important role in the genetic factor of EC and GCC in these populations.