Effect of CD44 gene polymorphisms on risk of transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder in Taiwan

The carcinogenesis of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the urinary bladder involves etiological factors, such as ethnicity, the environment, genetics, and diet. Cluster of differentiation (CD44), a well-known tumor marker, plays a crucial role in regulating tumor cell differentiation and metastasis.

This study investigated the effect of CD44 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on TCC risk and clinicopathological characteristics. Five SNPs of CD44 were analyzed through real-time polymerase chain reaction in 275 patients with TCC and 275 participants without cancer. In this study, we observed that CD44 rs187115 polymorphism carriers with the genotype of at least one G were associated with TCC risk. Furthermore, TCC patients who carried at least one G allele at CD44 rs187115 had a higher stage risk than did patients carrying the wild-type allele (p < 0. 05). In addition, The AATAC or GACGC haplotype among the five CD44 sites was also associated with a reduced risk of TCC. In conclusion, our results suggest that CD44 SNPs influence the risk of TCC. Patients with CD44 rs187115 variant genotypes (AG + GG) exhibited a higher risk of TCC; these patients may possess chemoresistance to developing late-stage TCC compared with those with the wild-type genotype. The CD44 rs187115 SNP may predict poor prognosis in patients with TCC.

Tumour biology : the journal of the International Society for Oncodevelopmental Biology and Medicine. 2015 Dec 12 [Epub ahead of print]

Wei-Chun Weng, Yu-Hui Huang, Shun-Fa Yang, Shian-Shiang Wang, Wu-Hsien Kuo, Chao-Wen Hsueh, Ching-Hsuan Huang, Ying-Erh Chou

Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. , School of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, 402, Taiwan. , Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. , Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. , Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. , Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. , Department of Acupuncture, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan. School of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, 402, Taiwan. 

PubMed