BACKGROUND: Amine catabolism by monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) contributes to oxidative stress, which plays a role in prostate cancer (PCa) development and progression. An upstream variable-number tandem repeat (uVNTR) in the MAOA promoter influences gene expression and activity, and may thereby affect PCa susceptibility.
METHODS: Caucasian (n = 2,572) men from two population-based case-control studies of PCa were genotyped for the MAOA-VNTR. Logistic regression was used to assess PCa risk in relation to genotype.
RESULTS: Common alleles of the MAOA-VNTR were not associated with the relative risk of PCa, nor did the relationship differ by clinical features of the disease. The rare 5-copy variant (frequency: 0.5% in cases; 1.8% in controls), however, was associated with a reduced PCa risk (odds ratio, OR = 0.30, 95% CI 0.13-0.71).
CONCLUSIONS: A rare polymorphism of the MAOA promoter previously shown to confer low expression was associated with a reduced risk of developing PCa. This novel finding awaits confirmation in other study populations.
Written by:
White TA, Kwon EM, Fu R, Lucas JM, Ostrander EA, Stanford JL, Nelson PS Are you the author?
Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington; Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington; Graduate Program in Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Reference: Prostate. 2012 Apr 2.
doi: 10.1002/pros.22515.
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 22473857