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Colorectal cancer
Insulin-like growth factor-1 promoter polymorphisms and colorectal cancer: a functional genomics approach
  1. H-L Wong1,
  2. W-P Koh2,
  3. N M Probst-Hensch3,
  4. D Van den Berg4,
  5. M C Yu5,
  6. S A Ingles4
  1. 1
    Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, NCI, NIH, DDHS, Rockville, Maryland, USA
  2. 2
    Department of Community, Occupational and Family Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore
  3. 3
    Molecular Epidemiology/Cancer Registry, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine/Department of Pathology, University of Zurich, Switzerland
  4. 4
    USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA
  5. 5
    The Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
  1. Dr Sue A Ingles, USC Norris Cancer Center, 1441 Eastlake Ave, Room 6419, Los Angeles CA 90033, USA; ingles{at}usc.edu

Abstract

Rationale: Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF1) has been proposed to mediate the obesity-related carcinogenic effects of “Western lifestyle”. While genetic factors explain at least half of inter-individual IGF1 variation, the IGF1 polymorphisms hypothesised to underlie the variation in cancer incidence rates remain ill-defined.

Methods: We used a comparative genomics approach to identify putative regulatory polymorphisms in the IGF1 promoter region within a rapidly westernising population, the Singapore Chinese. Association of IGF1 genotype with colorectal cancer risk was assessed among 298 colorectal cancer cases and 1142 controls nested within the Singapore Chinese Health Study.

Results: We identified a common (minor allele frequency = 0.36) single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), IGF1-2995 C/A, within a consensus domain for an octamer binding factor (Oct1/Oct2) transcription factor binding site. Possession of one or two copies of the minor allele (genotypes AA and CA) conferred an approximate 40% decrease in risk in comparison to genotype CC (odds ratio, 0.59; 95% confidence interval, 0.45 to 0.77). This association was stronger for colon cancer than for rectal cancer (pheterogeneity<0.001) and for those who were physically active versus inactive (pinteraction = 0.05). Models including other previously identified promoter polymorphisms did not provide a better prediction of colorectal cancer risk.

Conclusions: Our results support the hypotheses that IGF1 plays a role in colonic carcinogenesis and that genetically inherited variation in IGF1 expression influences risk of colorectal cancer.

https://doi.org/10.1136/gut.2007.140855

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    Footnotes

    • Funding: This work was supported by grants R01 CA55069, R35 CA53890, R01 CA80205 and R01 CA98497 from the United States National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland. H-LW was supported by the National Institute of Health-Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education fellowship.

    • Competing interests: None.

    • Ethics approval: The Institutional Review Boards at the National University of Singapore, the University of Minnesota and the University of Southern California approved this study.

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