Polymorphisms of TGFBR1, TLR4 are associated with prognosis of gastric cancer in a Chinese population

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)-induced gastric cancer is an intricate progression of immune response against H. pylori infection. IL-16, TGF-β1 and TLR4 pathways were the mediators involved in the immune response. We hypothesized that genetic variations in genes of these pathways have potential susceptibility to gastric cancer risk, and predict clinical outcomes of patients. METHODS: To investigate the susceptibility and prognostic value of genetic variations of IL-16, TGFBR1 and TLR4 pathways to gastric cancer, we performed a case–control study combined a retrospective study in a Chinese population. Genotyping for all polymorphisms was based on the Sequenom’s MassARRAY platform, and H. pylori infection was determined by using an immunogold testing kit. RESULTS: We found rs10512263 CC genotype was found to be a decreased risk of gastric cancer (CC vs. TT: adjusted OR = 0.54, 95% CI 0.31–0.97); however, rs334348 GG genotype was associated with increased risk of gastric cancer (GG vs. AA: adjusted OR = 1.51, 95% CI 1.05–2.18). We found that carriers harboring rs1927911 A allele (GA/AA) or rs10512263 C allele (CT/CC) have unfavorable survival time than none carriers (rs1927911: GA/AA vs. GG: adjusted HR = 1.27, 95% CI 1.00–1.63; rs10512263: CT/CC vs. TT: adjusted HR = 1.29, 95% CI 1.02–1.63) and that individuals harboring both two minor alleles (rs1927911 GA/AA and rs10512263 CT/CC) suffered a significant unfavorable survival (adjusted HR = 1.64, 95% CI 1.17–2.31). CONCLUSION: In short, we concluded that two polymorphisms (rs334348, rs10512263) in TGFBR1 were associated with risk of gastric cancer, and that TLR4 rs1927911 and TGFBR1 rs10512263 were associated with clinical outcomes of gastric cancer patients. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12935-018-0682-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.