LMO1 gene polymorphisms contribute to decreased neuroblastoma susceptibility in a Southern Chinese population

Neuroblastoma is one of the most commonly diagnosed extracranial solid tumors in infancy; however, the etiology of neuroblastoma remains largely unknown. Previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) indicated that several common genetic variations (rs110419 A > G, rs4758051 G > A, rs10840002 A > G and rs204938 A > G) in the LIM domain only 1 (LMO1) gene were associated with neuroblastoma susceptibility. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between the four GWAS-identified LMO1 gene polymorphisms and neuroblastoma risk in a Southern Chinese population. We genotyped the four polymorphisms in 256 neuroblastoma cases and 531 controls. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to evaluate the strength of the associations. False-positive report probability was calculated for all significant findings. We found that the rs110419 A > G polymorphism was associated with a significantly decreased neuroblastoma risk (AG vs. AA: adjusted OR = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.47-0.91; GG vs. AA: adjusted OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.36-0.91; AG/GG vs. AA: adjusted OR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.46-0.86), and the protective effect was more predominant in children of age > 18 months, males, subgroups with tumor in adrenal gland and mediastinum, and patients in clinical stages III/IV. These results suggested that LMO1 gene rs110419 A > G polymorphism may contribute to protection against neuroblastoma. Our findings call for further validation studies with larger sample size.