Association of genetic variations in RTN4 3'-UTR with risk of uterine leiomyomas.

This pilot case-control study was conducted to test the hypothesis that the TATC (rs71682890) and CAA (rs34917480) insertion/deletion polymorphisms of RTN4 3'-UTR are associated with the susceptibility to uterine leiomyoma (UL). The study recruited 286 premenopausal women with UL and 450 unrelated postmenopausal women not presenting the disease as control subjects. The polymorphisms of rs71682890 and rs34917480 were genotyped with the method of polymerase chain reaction polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PCR - PAGE). No statistically significant association was observed between the TATC insertion/deletion polymorphism and UL risk. However, increased UL risk was identified to be significantly associated with CAA insertion/deletion polymorphism in the recessive and codominant model. The present study provided evidence for the first time that CAA polymorphism in RTN4 3'-UTR, but not TATC polymorphism may be involved in susceptibility to UL.