Analysis of the 3'UTR of the prostaglandin synthetase-2 (PTGS-2/COX-2) gene in non-melanoma skin cancer after organ transplantation.

To define the potential involvement of polymorphisms in the 3'untranslated region (3'UTR) of the prostaglandin synthetase-2 (PTGS-2) gene to non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) predisposition after transplantation, we screened for genetic variant, relevant parts of this region. It contains binding sites for trans-acting factors, an alternative polyadenylation site and putative target sequences for miRNAs. Variant +8473T>C did not appear to play a functional role in the regulation of gene expression in human keratinocyte-transfected cells. In addition to the well-known +8473T>C, we identified four polymorphisms: +8293G>C, +10259T>G, +10267G>A and +10335G>A. No allele frequency differences were observed between cases and controls neither for +8473T>C nor for any of the identified polymorphisms, suggesting that polymorphisms in the 3'UTR of the PTGS2 gene are rare and unlikely to represent risk factor for NMSC after transplantation.