A common 936 C/T gene polymorphism of vascular endothelial growth factor is associated with decreased breast cancer risk

Abstract

A common 936 C/T polymorphism in the gene for the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been associated with VEGF plasma levels. In our case‐control study, we investigated the role of this polymorphism for breast cancer risk. VEGF genotype was determined in 500 women with breast cancer and 500 sex‐ and age‐matched healthy control subjects. Carriers of a 936T‐allele were more frequent among controls (29.4%) than among patients (17.6%; p = 0.000014). The odds ratio for carriers of a 936T‐allele for breast cancer was 0.51 (95% confidence interval 0.38–0.70). Additionally, VEGF plasma levels were determined in 21 nonsmoking post‐menopausal controls; carriers of a 936T allele had significantly lower levels (median 23 pg/ml; range 6–50 pg/ml) than noncarriers (37; 21–387; p = 0.034). We conclude that carriers of a VEGF 936T‐allele are at decreased risk for breast cancer, this, however, requiring further confirmation in a larger study.