Association between LAPTM4B gene polymorphism and prostate cancer susceptibility in an Iranian population

Lysosome associated protein transmembrane 4 β (LAPTM4B) is an oncogene associated with many human cancers. In the present study we aimed to examine the possible association between LAPTM4B polymorphism and risk of prostate cancer (PCa) in an Iranian population. This case control study was performed on 168 patients with PCa and 176 controls with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Genomic DNA was extracted from whole blood and LAPTM4B genotypes were identified by polymerase chain reaction. The distributions of LAPTM4B genotypes were significantly different between PCa patients (60.7% for *1/1, 32.8% for *1/2, and 6.5% for *2/2) and controls (44.9% for *1/1, 49.4% for *1/2, and 5.7% for *2/2). Both the *1/2 and *1/2+*2/2 genotypes significantly decreased the risk of PCa compared with the *1/1 genotype (OR = 49, 95% CI = 0.31-0.77, p = 0.002 and OR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.34-0.81, p = 0.004, respectively). The minor allele (LAPTM4B*2) was associated with a decreased risk of PCa compared with the LAPTM4B*1 allele (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.48-0.96, p = 0.031). Moreover, LAPTM4B polymorphism was not associated with clinicopathological characteristics of PCa patients. The results of this study showed that LAPTM4B*2 was associated with a decreased risk of PCa but the clinicopathological characteristics of PCa were not linked to LAPTM4B polymorphism. Further studies with larger sample sizes and different ethnicities are needed to confirm our findings.