Abstract 4837: Joint effect of arsenic exposure and vascular endothelial growth factor polymorphisms on urothelial carcinoma risk.

Abstract

Abstract Arsenic exposure is a major environmental risk factor for Urothelial carcinoma (UC) which includes cancers of bladder, renal pelvis and ureter (upper urinary tract). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an important factor in angiogenesis which plays a critical role in various malignancies including UC. The aim of this study is to investigate the joint effect of arsenic exposure and VEGF polymorphisms on UC risk. A hospital-based case-control study consisted of 730 histologically confirmed UC cases and 850 age-matched cancer-free controls were recruited from September 1998 to December 2009. Polymorphisms in VEGF gene was determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. The joint effects on UC risk were estimated by odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using unconditional multivariate logistic regression. Subjects with high arsenic exposure had significantly increased risks of 2.4 and 2.5 for bladder cancer and upper urinary tract UC (UUTUC), respectively. A significantly higher UUTUC risk of 1.7 was found in those with one or more risk genotypes of VEGF gene. Individuals with high arsenic exposure who carried one or more risk genotypes of VEGF gene had significantly increased risks of 2.9 (95% CI=1.8-4.7) and 4.2 (95% CI=2.3-7.7) for bladder cancer and UUTUC, respectively. The UUTUC cases with high arsenic exposure carrying one or more risk genotypes of VEGF gene had a higher risk of advanced tumor stage. Our findings suggest that the joint effect of arsenic exposure and risk genotypes of VEGF gene is relatively predominant in UUTUC than in bladder cancer. Keywords: Arsenic, Bladder cancer, Upper urinary tract, Urothelial carcinoma, Vascular endothelial growth factor Citation Format: Yuan-Hung Wang, Chia-Chang Wu, Kuan-Chou Chen, Hsin-An Chen, Ming-Te Huang, Chih-Hsiung Wu, Hung-Yi Chiou. Joint effect of arsenic exposure and vascular endothelial growth factor polymorphisms on urothelial carcinoma risk. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4837. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-4837