Genetic variation in insulin-like growth factor 2 may play a role in ovarian cancer risk

Hum Mol Genet. 2011 Jun 1;20(11):2263-72. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddr087. Epub 2011 Mar 21.

Abstract

The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signaling axis plays an important role in cancer biology. We hypothesized that genetic variation in this pathway may influence risk of ovarian cancer. A three-center study of non-Hispanic whites including 1880 control women, 1135 women with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer and 321 women with borderline epithelial ovarian tumors was carried out to test the association between tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms (tSNPs) (n=58) in this pathway and risk of ovarian cancer. We found no association between variation in IGF1, IGFBP1 or IGFBP3 and risk of invasive disease, whereas five tSNPs in IGF2 were associated with risk of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer at P<0.05 and followed-up one of the associated SNPs. We conducted genotyping in 3216 additional non-Hispanic white cases and 5382 additional controls and were able to independently replicate our initial findings. In the combined set of studies, rs4320932 was associated with a 13% decreased risk of ovarian cancer per copy of the minor allele carried (95% confidence interval 0.81-0.93, P-trend=7.4 × 10(-5)). No heterogeneity of effect across study centers was observed (p(het)=0.25). IGF2 is emerging as an important gene for ovarian cancer; additional genotyping is warranted to further confirm these associations with IGF2 and to narrow down the region harboring the causal SNP.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Female
  • Genetic Heterogeneity
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 1 / genetics
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins / genetics
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / genetics
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / metabolism
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor II / genetics*
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor II / metabolism
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / genetics
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / genetics
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide*
  • Risk Factors
  • White People / genetics

Substances

  • IGFBP1 protein, human
  • IGFBP3 protein, human
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 1
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor I
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor II