Research article

The genetic polymorphisms of HER-2 and the risk of lung cancer in a Korean population

Uk Hyun Jo^1,2 , Sle Gi Lo Han^1,2 , Jae Hong Seo³ , Kyong Hwa Park³ , Jae Won Lee⁴ , Hyo Jung Lee⁴ , Jeong Seon Ryu⁵ and Yeul Hong Kim^1,2,3

¹Department of Internal Medicine and Division of Brain Korea 21 Project for Biomedical Science, Korea University Anam Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

²Genomic Research Center for Lung and Breast/Ovarian Cancers, Korea University Anam Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine Seoul, Korea

³Division of Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University Anam Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, 126-1, 5 ga, Anam-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 136-705, Korea

⁴Department of Statistics, College of Political Science and Economics, Korea University, Seoul, Korea

⁵Department of Internal Medicine, Inha University College of Medicine, 3 ga Shinheung-dong, Incheon-si, 400-711, Korea

author email corresponding author email

BMC Cancer 2008, 8:359doi:10.1186/1471-2407-8-359

Published:	4 December 2008

Abstract

Background

Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER-2; also known as erbB-2 or neu), a proto-oncogene of the receptor tyrosine kinase superfamily, has been associated with carcinogenesis and prognosis of human cancers, acting as a binding partner of other epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family in the activation of EGFR signaling. Amplification of the HER-2 gene has been reported in lung cancer, where it has been associated with poor prognosis. In this study, we investigated whether the four polymorphisms (-3444C>T, -1985 G>T, I655A A>G and P1170A C>G) of the HER-2 gene are associated with the risk of lung cancer in Korean populations.

Methods

The frequencies of 4 polymorphisms of the HER-2 gene were examined by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism or the single-nucleotide polymorphism-identification technology assay in the 407 lung cancer patients and 407 healthy controls.

Results

The frequencies of the 4 polymorphisms were not significantly different between patient and control groups in overall subjects. However, in the subgroup analysis, the 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms (-3444C>T, -1985G>T and P1170A C>G) showed statistically significant differences in the subgroups of females, non-smokers, and non-drinkers (p < 0.05). Additionally, we found the association between the risk of lung cancer and the polymorphisms of HER-2 gene in non-smoker subgroups with adenocarcinoma (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

Our results suggest that the polymorphisms of the HER-2 gene are associated with an increased susceptibility to lung cancer in females, non-smokers and non-drinkers subgroups in the Korean population.