Association Study between SNPs in MST1 and MST2 and <i>H. pylori</i> Infection as well as Noncardia Gastric Carcinogenesis

Abstract

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Gastric cancer (GC) remains a global health challenge, and <i>H. pylori</i> infection is a main risk factor for noncardia GC. The present study aimed to investigate the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in mammalian sterile 20-like kinase 1 (MST1) and MST2, <i>H. pylori</i> (<i>H. pylori</i>) infection, and the risk of noncardia gastric cancer (GC). <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A case-control study was conducted using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and TaqMan method to detect the titer of anti-<i>H. pylori</i> antibody in normal human serum and genotype 9 SNPs of <i>MST1</i> and <i>MST2</i> genes among 808 samples. Unconditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between SNPs and <i>H. pylori</i> infection, as well as the risk of noncardia gastric cancer in codominant, dominant, overdominant, recessive, and log-additive genetic models. Haplotypes were constructed using the Haploview 4.2 software. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The CC genotype of <i>MST2</i> SNP rs10955176 was associated with a reduced risk of <i>H. pylori</i> infection compared to the TT + CT genotype. None of other SNPs were associated with <i>H. pylori</i> infection. The TT genotype of <i>MST2</i> SNP rs7827435 was associated with a reduced risk of noncardia gastric cancer compared to the AA + AT genotype. None of the SNPs were associated with noncardia gastric cancer. There were no associations between haplotypes and <i>H. pylori</i> infection or the risk of noncardia gastric cancer. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> The CC genotype of rs10955176 and the TT genotype of rs7827435 may serve as protective factors against <i>H. pylori</i> infection and noncardia gastric cancer risk, respectively.