Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in NGX6 gene and their correlation with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is rare in most parts of the world, but prevalent in southern China. Recently, a NGX6 gene was cloned, which is located in the region of minimal heterozygosity deletion at 9p21.3-22.1 and is down-expressed in NPC. The latest results suggest that the NGX6 gene is a candidate tumor suppressor for NPC. A correlation study using 2 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within NGX6 gene by means of dynamic allele specific hybridization (DASH) was performed in 105 unrelated case subjects and 183 control subjects which matched to the NPC cases in age, sex and residence. Significant results were obtained for one SNP mark (rs879284), which was located at - 237 bp 5' up-stream of NGX6 gene, and the relative risk of this SNP mark was 3.93 (genotype CT) and 2.27 (genotype TT). The result has proved again that NGX6 gene may play a certain role in oncogenesis and development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The SNP mark rs879284 may influence on the expression of NGX6 gene due to its location on chromosome.