Lack of associations of polymorphisms of IL-7R, IL-13 and IL-15 with NSCLCs in non-smoking Chinese.

Studies have shown that immune cells play a key role in lung cancer development. Five SNPs (rs1494555, rs7737000, rs20541, rs1057972 and rs2857261) are associated with lung cancer risk among Caucasians and/or African-Americans, but the polymorphisms may be implicated in different susceptibilities for lung cancer across different populations because of underlying genetic heterogeneity. We therefore conducted a study to examine this relationship in non-smoking Chinese. As a result , no significant associations were observed between SNPs and NSCLCs, whetehr of squamous cell or adenocarcinoma type. Results indicated polymorphisms of IL-7R, IL-13 and IL-15 are not major contributors to NSCLC susceptibility, although we can not rule out synergistic effects with cigarette smoke in NSCLC development in smoking Chinese.