APOBEC3 deletion polymorphism is associated with epithelial ovarian cancer risk among Chinese women

Ovarian cancer remains the leading cause of death from gynecological malignancies and the second most common gynecological malignancy among women worldwide. However, the etiology still remains largely unknown. Previous studies identified APOBEC3 gene deletions were significantly associated with higher breast cancer risk in both European and Chinese women. Considering both breast and ovarian cancers being hormonally driven and sharing multiple risk factors, we performed this case-control study to evaluate the association between APOBEC3 deletion and epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) risk. We analyzed the APOBEC3 deletion in a case-control study of 2,938 Chinese women (including 1,374 EOC cases and 1,564 healthy controls). All participants were genotyped using real-time qualitative PCR (qPCR). APOBEC3 deletion was significant associated with EOC risk, with ORs (95 % CIs) of 1.46 (1.14-1.86) associated with one copy deletion and 2.53 (0.91-7.06) associated with two copy deletion compared with subjects with no deletion (P for trend =1.50 × 10(-3)). Additional adjustments and stratified analyses did not change the results materially. Our data suggests that the loss genotypes of APOBEC3 deletion predispose their carriers to EOC.