The adiponectin gene, ADIPOQ, and genetic susceptibility to colon cancer.

In order to evaluate the contribution of polymorphisms of the adiponectin gene, ADIPOQ, to the risk of colon cancer, we conducted a case-control study of 60 colon cancer patients and 60 age, gender and ethnicity-matched controls in the Saudi population. We tested the hypothesis by analyzing the genotypes for two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs1501299 (G276T) and rs2241766 (T45G), in the ADIPOQ gene. In addition, the study was also designed to assess whether the two SNPs contribute to circulating adiponectin levels. We observed an increased risk of colon cancer associated with the 276T allele. The odds ratio (OR) was 2.64 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.49-14.6]. The G allele at the T45G polymorphism was associated with a lower risk of colon cancer (OR=0.41; 95% CI, 0.19-0.86). Our results suggest that the risk of developing colon cancer may be partially explained by genetic polymorphisms in the ADIPOQ gene.