E-cadherin polymorphisms and breast cancer susceptibility: a report from the Shanghai Breast Cancer Study

The epithelial transmembrane glycoprotein E-cadherin (CDH1) is necessary for intercellular adhesion, cell signaling, and maintenance of cellular differentiation; reduced expression contributes to cell proliferation, invasion, and cancer progression. Functional or potentially functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in E-cadherin have been previously identified and evaluated in relation to cancer risk; however, studies on breast cancer have been sparse. Forty-six SNPs were genotyped to capture genetic variation of the CDH1 gene among 2,290 Phase 1 and 1,944 Phase 2 participants of the Shanghai Breast Cancer Study (SBCS), a large, population-based, case-control study. No overall associations between E-cadherin SNPs and breast cancer risk were observed. When stratified by menopausal status, associations that were consistent between Phases 1 and 2 and significant when data from both phases were combined were observed for several SNPs. Although none of these associations retained statistical significance after correcting for the total number of polymorphisms evaluated, this study suggests that genetic variation in CDH1 may be associated with breast cancer risk, and that this relationship may vary by menopausal status.