Association of serum adiponectin levels and ADIPOQ SNP rs2241766 with breast cancer risk in Indian women

Abstract

ABSTRACT Context: Adiponectin, an adipokine, and its gene polymorphisms have been associated with breast cancer risk in various populations. Subjects and Methods: In this study, we evaluated the association of the circulating levels of adiponectin and adiponectin gene polymorphism SNP rs2241766 with breast cancer and its clinicopathological characteristics in Indian women. A case-control study was carried out with 60 Ductal Infiltrating Breast Carcinoma patients and 60 age-matched healthy controls. Serum adiponectin levels were measured by ELISA. SNP genotyping was done by Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism. Statistical Analysis: Serum adiponectin levels were compared using the Mann Whitney U test. The frequency of genotypes was compared using the Chi-square test. The odds ratio was calculated using logistic regression. Results: Lower serum adiponectin level was associated with increased risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women (OR – 7.69; 95% CI – 2.16–27.43, P = 0.002) but not in the reproductive age group women. There was no association between adiponectin levels with the TNM stage of the tumor, histopathological grade, erbB2, and ER/PR status. The SNP rs2241766 polymorphism was not associated with breast cancer risk but the mutant genotypes TG/GG was found to be significantly associated with the lower histopathological grade of the tumor (X2 (2, N = 60) = 8.62, P = 0.01). Conclusion: Our results suggest that low serum adiponectin levels are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. The TG/GG genotypes of SNP rs2241766 polymorphism were associated with a lower histological grade of the tumor.