Polymorphisms of TGFB1 and VEGF genes and survival of patients with gastric cancer

We genotyped TGFB1 -509 C>T, +1869 T>C, and +915 G>C and VEGF -1498T>C, -634G>C, and +936C>T in 167 patients with gastric cancer. Using the Kaplan and Meier method, log-rank tests, and Cox proportional hazard models, we evaluated associations among TGFB1 and VEGF variants with overall, 1-year, and 2-year survival rates.Although there were no significant differences in overall survival rates among all polymorphisms tested, patients with TGFB1+915CG and CC genotypes had a poorer 2-year survival (adjusted hazard ratio (HR), 3.06; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.09–8.62; P = 0.034) than patients with the GG genotype had. In addition, patients heterozygous for VEGF -634CG also had a poorer 1-year survival (adjusted HR, 2.08; 95% CI, 1.03–4.22; P = 0.042) than patients with the -634GG genotype.Our study suggested that TGFB1+915CG/CC and VEGF -634CG genotypes may be associated with short-term survival in gastric cancer patients. However, larger studies are needed to verify these findings.In gastric caner, patients with the same clinicopathologic characteristics and the same treatment regimens may have different clinical outcomes. Although stage is the best available clinical measure of tumor aggression and prognosis, there are clearly important differences even within the same tumor stage [1,2]. Therefore, it would be helpful to improve the prognostic accuracy by identifying readily accessible molecular markers that predict some of the variation in clinical outcomes. In recent decades, many studies have shown that genetic alterations play roles in the development and progression of gastric cancer [3]. Among these molecular markers, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are the most commonly investigated genetic variation that may contribute to patients' clinical outcomes [4].Epidemiologic and clinical investigations have suggested that both TGF-β1 and VEGF may play an important role in the oncogenesis of the stomach [5,6]. For example, TGFB1 and VEGF variants are associat