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Catechol-O-methyltransferase Gene Polymorphisms in Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia and Sporadic Prostate Cancer

¹ Department of Urology, Veterans Affairs Medical Center and University of California at San Francisco, California; ² Department of Urology, Shimane Medical University, Izumo, Japan; ³ Department of Urology, Toho University Faculty of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan; ⁴ Department of Clinical Laboratory Science, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine, Yamaguchi, Japan; and ⁵ Department of Urology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan

Requests for reprints: Rajvir Dahiya, Department of Urology (112F), Veterans Affairs Medical Center and University of California at San Francisco, 4150 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA 94121. Phone: 415-750-6964; Fax: 415-750-6639. E-mail: Rdahiya{at}urol.ucsf.edu

Various carcinogenic metabolites, including catechol estrogens, play a role in malignant transformation. An enzyme that is capable of neutralizing the genotoxic effects of these compounds is catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT). A variant form of this enzyme has been shown to reduce its activity by up to 4-fold; thus, we hypothesize that single nucleotide polymorphisms of the COMT gene can be a risk factor for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer. To test this hypothesis, the genetic distribution of three different COMT polymorphisms at codon 62 (CT), codon 72 (GT), and codon 158 (GA) were analyzed in 131 normal healthy subjects, 134 BPH, and 178 sporadic prostate cancer samples from a Japanese population. Results of these experiments show that the variant genotype at codon 62 (P = 0.060) and codon 158 (P = 0.047) are risk factors for prostate cancer but not BPH when compared with normal controls. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for cancer were 3.24 and 1.38 to 7.61, respectively, for codon 62 T/T genotype when compared with wild type. At codon 158, the A/A variant for cancer had an OR of 3.00 with a 95% CI of 1.38 to 6.54 compared with wild type. Codons 62 and 158 were in linkage disequilibrium (LD), and when compared with the C-G haplotype, other types (C-A, T-G, T-A) were observed to be associated with prostate cancer (P = 0.040) but not BPH. Codon 72 on the other hand, was not in LD with either codon 62 or 158. The homozygous variant on codon 72 was rare in this Japanese population, and the heterozygous G/T at this codon was not associated with either prostate cancer or BPH. When evaluating the risk of COMT polymorphisms with stage or grade of cancer, no associations were observed for any of the genotypes with the exception of a tendency (P = 0.096) for the variant A allele on codon 158 to be correlated with higher stages (T₃) of cancer. This is the first report that shows the polymorphisms of COMT to be associated with sporadic prostatic carcinogenesis. These results are important in understanding the role of COMT polymorphisms in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(2):238–44)

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