Variants in the HEPSIN gene are associated with susceptibility to prostate cancer

Abstract

BACKGROUND: HEPSIN (HPN) gene is one of the most consistently overexpressed genes in patients with prostate cancer; furthermore, there is some evidence supporting an association between HPN gene variants and the risk of developing prostate cancer. In this study, sequence variants in the HPN gene were investigated to determine whether they were associated with prostate cancer risk in a Korean study cohort. METHODS: We evaluated the association of 17 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the HPN gene with prostate cancer risk and clinical characteristics (Gleason score and tumor stage) in Korean men (240 case subjects and 223 control subjects) using unconditional logistic regression. RESULTS: The statistical analysis suggested that three SNPs (rs45512696, rs2305745, rs2305747) were significantly associated with the risk of prostate cancer (odds ratio (OR) = 2.22, P = 0.04; OR = 0.73, P = 0.03; OR = 0.76, P = 0.05, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that, in Korean men, some polymorphisms in the HPN gene might be associated with the risk of developing prostate cancer.