The functional polymorphism in monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 gene increases susceptibility to gastric cancer

Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1, CCL2) has been suggested to be associated with gastric cancer. We investigated whether the functional single nucleotide polymorphism A-2518G in CCL2 gene influenced susceptibility to gastric cancer. The CCL2 genotypes were determined using polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism in 1,216 individuals (608 gastric cancer patients and 608 age- and sex-matched controls). The gastric cancer patients showed a significant higher frequency of the variant G allele compared to the controls (P = 0.01). Compared with the wild-type AA carriers, the variant genotypes (GA + GG) of A-2518G polymorphism were associated with a higher risk of gastric cancer (adjusted odds ratio = 1.55, 95% confidence interval = 1.03–2.35). Moreover, the elevated risk of gastric cancer associated with the variant genotypes was especially noteworthy in rural subjects (adjusted odds ratio = 1.92, 95% confidence interval = 1.01–3.65). In addition, stratification of gastric cancer cases according to clinicopathological characters showed that the polymorphism was associated significantly with the depth of tumor infiltration. Our data suggest that the genetic polymorphism CCL2 A-2518G may not only be associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer, but also with advanced stage of gastric cancer in the Chinese population.