Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a major public health concern worldwide. However, the detailed molecular mechanisms of CRC remain poorly understood.
Methods: In the current study, we evaluated associations of four genetic variants located in the promoter and gene region of long noncoding RNAs metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (lncRNA MALAT1) with CRC susceptibility among a Chinese population with 966 CRC cases and 988 healthy controls, using a two-stage, case-control study design (400 CRC cases and 400 controls in stage 1, and 566 CRC cases and 588 controls in stage 2).
Results: We found that the minor alleles of rs619586 (OR=0.73; 95% CI=0.60-0.88; P=0.001) and rs1194338 (OR=0.80; 95% CI=0.70-0.92; P=0.001) were significantly associated with decreased CRC susceptibility. Compared with those with rs619586 -AA genotype, the risk of CRC was significantly lower in individuals with AG genotype (OR=0.76; 95% CI=0.61-0.95) and GG genotype (OR=0.46; 95% CI=0.23-0.90). Compared with those with rs1194338 -CC genotype, the risk of CRC was significantly lower in individuals with AC genotype (OR=0.79; 95% CI=0.65-0.95) and AA genotype (OR=0.68; 95% CI=0.51-0.89).
Conclusion: Taken together, our findings provided strong evidence for the hypothesis that genetic variants in lncRNA MALAT1 might contribute to the carcinogenesis of CRC.
Keywords: MALAT1; colorectal cancer; genetic; lncRNA; susceptibility.