High incidence of CTLA-4 AA (CT60) polymorphism in renal cell cancer

Polymorphism in genes encoding T-cell regulatory proteins and cytokines may influence inflammation and cancer development via regulation of antitumor immune response. In the current study we analyzed genotypic frequencies of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4)/CT60, CTLA-4/A49G, interleukin (IL)-4, and IL-10 polymorphisms in 117 renal cell carcinoma patients, 96 patients with colorectal cancer, and 196 healthy controls to test for an association between polymorphism in these genes and the risk of renal and colon cancer in a Spanish group of patients. In the case-control study, DNA samples from cancer patients and controls were analyzed using a TaqMan single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping assay. The distribution of IL-4 and IL-10 polymorphisms was similar between renal cancer patients and controls. However, a higher incidence of CTLA-4/CT60-AA genotype (p = 0.005; odds ratio (OR)= 2.12 with 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.28-3.50) and CTLA-4/A49G-AA (p = 0.022; OR = 1.76 with 95% CI: 1.11-2.80) genotype was observed in renal cancer patients than in controls. In addition, we observed a positive correlation between the AA genotype in both CTLA-4 polymorphisms and RCC grade, suggesting a role for the CTLA4 gene in tumor development. Therefore, our data suggest the CTLA-4 gene may be a candidate as a renal adenocarcinoma susceptibility gene, but does not play an important role in colon cancer.