Evaluation of possible role of the hTERT gene rs2853669 polymorphism in the development of colorectal cancer as a genetic risk factor

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second deadliest malignancy. Human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene has been identified as one of the potential cancer susceptibility genes. We evaluated the relationship between the risk of CRC and CRC’s clinicopathological features of the hTERT rs2853669 (A > G/T > C, by the chain direction) polymorphism in Turkish population. The rs2853669 polymorphism was investigated with the LightCycler 96 device in 100 CRC patients and 327 controls. We found that the rs2853669 polymorphism AG/GG genotypes in genetic models reduced the risk of CRC. However, there was no significant relationship between rs2853669 polymorphism and clinicopathological features of CRC in studied population. The results of this study showed that the risk of colorectal cancer is significantly reduced in the individuals having the G (C) allele. Our recommendation is to analyze the hTERT gene expression by studying the hTERT promoter mutations with this polymorphism in colorectal cancer.