A clinical study on the factors associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma among the Chinese population

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NC) arises from the nasopharynx epithelium and the majority of NC cases globally are within China and Southeast Asia. Both short palate lung and nasal epithelium clone 1 (SPLUNC1) and myelodysplasia syndrome 1-ectopic viral integration site 1 (MDS1-EVI1) play an important role in carcinogenesis and have been found to be associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. In spite of their role in NC, the association between these genes and their polymorphisms in the development of NC has thus far not been studied. In the present study, the relationship between SPLUNC1 (rs2752903, T>C) and MDS1-EVI1 (rs6774494, G>A) polymorphisms and their role in the development of NC among the Chinese population were investigated. From a Chinese population of 1,059 patients with NC and 891 controls, genotype frequencies and the distribution of SPLUNC1 and MDS1-EVI1 polymorphisms were analyzed for possible susceptibility to NC. It was observed that those with MDS1-EVI1 CC (OR, 2.76; 95% CI, 1.96-3.81) and MDS1-EVI1 CT (OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.22-2.14) polymorphisms had an increased risk of developing NC. Those with SPLUNC1 AA genotypes also observed a higher risk for NC compared with SPLUNC1 GG genotypes (OR, 2.15; 95% CI, 1.62-3.15). When observing the gene-gene interaction between SPLUNC1 and MDS1-EVI1 polymorphisms, it was found that the presence of both SPLUNC1 CC and MDS1-EVI1 AA alleles was associated with a higher risk for NC compared with those who did not carry both alleles (OR, 6.75; 95% CI, 3.41-12.11). The present study suggested that the association between SPLUNC1 (rs2752903, T>C) and MDS1-EVI1 (rs6774494, G>A) polymorphisms may be a potent risk factor in the occurrence of NC.