Polymorphisms in the Tumor Necrosis Factor Genes Are Associated with Breast Cancer in the Moroccan Population

The multifunctional cytokines of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family have been found to be involved in the promotion of inflammatory responses, and to play critical roles in the pathogenesis of inflammatory, autoimmune, and malignant diseases. The aim of the present study was to assess the associations among the TNFα -238 G > A (rs361525), TNFα -308 G > A (rs1800629), and TNFβ +252 A>G (rs909253) polymorphisms, and the breast cancer (BC) susceptibility in the Moroccan population. We conducted a case-control study, including 492 participants made up of 264 pathologically confirmed BC subjects, and 228 healthy women as controls. The samples were genotyped by means of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses. The TNFα -238 G > A and TNFα -308 G > A polymorphisms were significantly associated with increased risk of BC for the AA genotype, while, the AG genotype of TNFβ +252 A>G may offer a protective effect in this population. Haplotypic analyses showed that the GAA and AAG haplotypes increased the risk significantly for BC. Moreover, a significant association was observed between polymorphisms at the TNFα -238 A>G locus and the clinical profiles of the patients with regard to their estrogen-and progesterone-positive receptor status. These findings indicate that TNF gene polymorphisms are linked with the risk of BC in the Moroccan population. Further studies implementing a larger sample size are needed to support our findings.