APEX1 Polymorphisms and Neuroblastoma Risk in Chinese Children: A Three-Center Case-Control Study

Neuroblastoma is a life-threatening extracranial solid tumor, preferentially occurring in children. However, its etiology remains unclear. APEX1 is a critical gene in the base excision repair (BER) system responsible for maintaining genome stability. Given the potential effects of APEX1 polymorphisms on the ability of the DNA damage repair, many studies have investigated the association between these variants and susceptibility to several types of cancer but not neuroblastoma. Here, we conducted a three-center case-control study to evaluate the association between APEX1 polymorphisms (rs1130409 T>G, rs1760944 T>G, and rs3136817 T>C) and neuroblastoma risk in Chinese children, consisting of 469 cases and 998 controls. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to evaluate the associations. No significant association with neuroblastoma risk was found for the studied APEX1 polymorphisms in the single locus or combination analysis. Interestingly, stratified analysis showed that rs1130409 GG genotype significantly reduced the risk of tumor in males. Furthermore, we found that carriers with 1-3 protective genotypes had a lower neuroblastoma risk in the children older than18 months and male, when compared to those without protective genotypes. In summary, our data indicate that APEX1 gene polymorphisms may have a weak effect on neuroblastoma susceptibility. These findings should be further validated by well-designed studies with larger sample size.