Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms of DNA Methyltransferase 1 Gene and Gastric Cancer in Iranian Patients: a Case Control Study

Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in Iran. Hypomethylation and/or hypermethylation of DNA have been described in Gastric cancer and is presumed to be an early event in this process. We hypothesized that Single nucleotide polymorphisms of DNMT1 gene may be associated with the genetic susceptibility to Gastric cancer. 200 patients and 200 controls, both with Iranian origin were studied. Three polymorphisms were genotyped by PCR-RFLP. Allele frequencies and genotypes were compared between the cases and controls. Odds ratios were calculated and the interaction between polymorphisms, age and sex were examined. There was no significant association between DNMT1 polymorphisms and Gastric cancer. We could not show any association between DNMT1 polymorphisms and gastric cancer. Larger sets of polymorphisms and sample sizes are required to test the possibility of association between polymorphisms of this gene and gastric cancer.