The Impact of IL-16 3′UTR Polymorphism rs859 on Lung Carcinoma Susceptibility among Chinese Han Individuals

Lung carcinoma is the most common cancer and cause of cancer deaths among both males and females in China. Previously, genetic variants located in gene untranslated region have been well established as interfering factors in mRNA translation and confirmed playing critical roles in lung oncogenesis. However, the correlation between polymorphisms in gene 3′ untranslated region and lung cancer risk is less reported in China Han population. In this study, polymorphisms in 3′-untranslated region of IL-16, CYP24A1, and FBN1 were determined in 322 lung cancer patients and 384 healthy controls with the usage of Sequenom MassARRAY. The correlation between selected variants and lung cancer risk was examined by unconditional logistic regression analysis with or without adjustments for age, gender, smoking status, and alcohol drinking status. Additionally, stratification analysis was applied to detect the associations of SNPs with lung cancer in different subgroups. As the results, significant relationships were found between IL-16 rs859 and lung cancer susceptibility in recessive model (OR= 0.65, 95% CI: 0.44-0.96, P= 0.029) and log-additive model (OR= 0.76, 95% CI: 0.60-0.96, P= 0.019). Moreover, adjusted stratified analysis also revealed the important effects of IL-16 rs859 on lung cancer risk among individuals aged older than 50, males, and nondrinkers. IL-16 rs859 showed statistically significant evidence associated with susceptibility to lung adenocarcinoma and lung small cell carcinoma in Chinese Han population as well. Our research demonstrated that genetic variant rs859 of IL-16 3′UTR was associated with lung cancer risk in Chinese Han population and the result might be exploited as a new biomarker for lung cancer assessment and prevention.