Association of the HLA-G 3'UTR polymorphisms with colorectal cancer in Italy: a first insight.

This study aimed to explore functional and regulatory polymorphisms and haplotypes at the HLA-G 3'UTR region in colorectal cancer development. The presence of nonpolymorphic variants was also evaluated. Three-hundred and eight patients with colorectal cancer and 294 healthy controls were analysed at the germinal level. We found an association with increased risk of colorectal cancer for +2960 14-bp INDEL, +3196 C>G SNPs and UTR-2 haplotype, and a 'protective' role for +3003 T>C, +3010 C>G polymorphisms and UTR-4 haplotype. We detected in 3 distinct patients, a novel nucleotide change (+3037 C>A) and 2 already described rare variants, +3032 G/C (EUR MAF = 0.1%) and +3092 G/T (EUR MAF = 0%). This is the first study showing associations between different polymorphisms in the HLA-G 3'UTR and colorectal cancer susceptibility.