Genetic Variation in the <i>Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGFA) </i>Gene at rs13207351 Is Associated with Overall Survival of Patients with Head and Neck Cancer

• Main Authors: Foteinos-Ioannis Dimitrakopoulos, Georgia-Angeliki Koliou, Vassiliki Kotoula, Kyriaki Papadopoulou, Konstantinos Markou, Konstantinos Vlachtsis, Nikolaos Angouridakis, Ilias Karasmanis, Angelos Nikolaou, Amanda Psyrri, Anastasios Visvikis, Paris Kosmidis, George Fountzilas, Angelos Koutras
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-03-01
• Series: Cancers
• Subjects: head and neck cancer; nasopharyngeal cancer; VEGFA; FAS; endothelin; NBS1
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/13/5/1163

Head and neck cancer (HNC) is a significantly heterogeneous disease and includes malignancies arising from different anatomical sites, such as nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) and laryngeal cancer (LC). In the current study, polymorphisms located in angiogenesis- and apoptosis-related genes (<i>VEGFA</i>, <i>FAS</i>, <i>EDNRA </i>and <i>NBS1) </i>were evaluated regarding their clinical significance in HNC patients. In total, 333 HNC patients were enrolled in this study and 34 variants located on the aforementioned genes were genotyped via Sanger sequencing. LC patients, homozygous A for <i>VEGFA </i>rs13207351, had shorter overall survival (OS) as opposed to homozygous G (Hazard ratio (HR) = 2.06, Wald’s <i>p = </i>0.017) upon adjustment for age, disease stage, and surgery. Following the dominant model, LC patients carrying the A allele had a marginally significantly higher risk for death (HR = 1.72, <i>p </i>= 0.059). NPC patients heterozygous (CT) for <i>FAS </i>rs2234768 had a marginal but significantly higher risk of death compared to those with homozygosity for the T allele (HR = 2.22, <i>p </i>= 0.056). In conclusion, rs13207351 <i>(VEGFA) </i>and rs2234768 (<i>FAS</i>) polymorphisms seem to have prognostic significance in HNC, with <i>VEGFA</i> rs13207351 showing the most promise in this subgroup of LC patients.