Cancer type-specific modulation of mitochondrial haplogroups in breast, colorectal and thyroid cancer

Hezhi Fang, Lijun Shen, Tao Chen, Jing He, Zhinan Ding, Jia Wei, Jianchun Qu, Guorong Chen, Jianxin Lu, Yidong Bai

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

84 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups and single nucleotide polymorphisms (mtSNP) have been shown to play a role in various human conditions including aging and some neurodegenerative diseases, metabolic diseases and cancer.Methods: To investigate whether mtDNA haplogroups contribute to the occurrence of cancer in a specific Chinese population, we have carried out a comprehensive case-control study of mtDNA from large cohorts of patients with three common cancer types, namely, colorectal cancer (n = 108), thyroid cancer (n = 100) and breast cancer (n = 104), in Wenzhou, a southern Chinese city in the Zhejiang Province.Results: We found that patients with mtDNA haplogroup M exhibited an increased risk of breast cancer occurrence [OR = 1.77; 95% CI (1.03-3.07); P = 0.040], and that this risk was even more pronounced in a sub-haplogroup of M, D5 [OR = 3.11; 95%CI (1.07-9.06); p = 0.030]. In spite of this, in patients with breast cancer, haplogroup M was decreased in the metastatic group. On the other hand, our results also showed that haplogroup D4a was associated with an increased risk of thyroid cancer [OR = 3.00; 95%CI (1.09-8.29); p = 0.028]. However, no significant correlation has been detected between any mtDNA haplogroups and colorectal cancer occurrence.Conclusion: Our investigation indicates that mitochondrial haplogroups could have a tissue-specific, population-specific and stage-specific role in modulating cancer development.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number421
JournalBMC Cancer
Volume10
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 12 2010

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Genetics
  • Oncology
  • Cancer Research

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