Association between clusterin polymorphisms and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma risk in Han Chinese population

Genetic susceptibility plays an essential role in an individual's risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The aim of this study is to investigate the associations between clusterin (CLU) gene polymorphisms and ESCC risk. We undertook a case-control study to analyze three CLU polymorphisms (gene rs9331888 C>G, rs17466684 A>G and rs1532278 T>C) in an Han Chinese population, by extraction of genomic DNA from the peripheral blood of 642 patients with ESCC and 658 control participants, and performed CLU genotyping using DNA sequencing. The obtained results indicated that overall, no statistically significant association was observed in rs17466684 and rs1532278. However, gene rs9331888 C>G genotype was at increased risk of ESCCs (P=0.037; odds ratio (OR)=1.089, 95% CI: 1.006-1.175). Moreover, rs9331888 G/G genotype ESCCs were more significantly common in patients with tumor size of >5 cm than T allele ESCC and in cases of poor differentiation and lower advanced pathological stage. In conclusion, polymorphism in rs9331888 C>G was observed to be associated with susceptibility of ESCC. Nevertheless, further investigation with a larger sample size is needed to support our results.