Association between human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) MNS16A polymorphism and risk of breast cancer

It is well known that telomerase activity is suppressed in normal human tissues and reactivated in tumors, suggesting that the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT, MIM: 187270) gene may be involved in carcinogenesis. A polymorphic tandem repeat minisatellite located downstream of exon 16 of hTERT and upstream in the putative promoter region of an antisense hTERT transcript, termed MNS16A, results in a functional polymorphism. Because the association between the MNS16A genetic polymorphism and breast cancer (BC) risk remains an open question, the present case-control study was conducted in Shiraz (Fars Province, Southern Iran).

A total of 711 samples were collected, including 362 BC patients and 349 healthy individuals. Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction method. Alleles were determined by classifying DNA amplicons of less than and greater than 300 bp as short (S) and long (L) alleles, respectively.

Different inheritance models (codominant, dominant, recessive, overdominant genotype models and the allele model) were used to evaluate the association between the MNS16A polymorphism and the risk of BC. No significant association was observed in any of the analyses. It should be noted that the statistical power of the comparisons was low.

The present study did not support the association between hTERT MNS16A polymorphism and breast cancer risk. Similar studies in other populations with larger sample sizes are needed to determine the association between the hTERT MNS16A polymorphism and susceptibility to breast cancer.