Association of CCL2/CCR2 gene polymorphisms and bladder cancer risk in a hispanic-rich US population

Background Gene polymorphisms can lead to differential production of inflammatory proteins associated with cancer development. Prior explorations of the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1/CCL2) and its receptor, CCR2, to bladder cancer, yielded conflicting findings. Objective To analyze the distributions of the polymorphisms CCL2 rs1024611 and CCR2 rs1799864 between healthy controls and bladder cancer patients to determine if they are associated with bladder cancer risk in a cohort of Hispanic White and non-Hispanic White men. Methods DNA was isolated from blood obtained from healthy male controls (CCL2 n = 447; CCR2 n = 612) and from male bladder cancer patients (CCL2 n = 233; CCR2 n = 227). The CCL2 rs1024611 SNP and CCR2 rs1799864 SNP were genotyped using the TaqMan methodology. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine associations between SNP genotypes and bladder cancer in Hispanic and non-Hispanic White men. Results There were no significant differences in the genotype frequencies for either the CCL2 or CCR2 SNP and bladder cancer risk was equivalent regardless of CCL2 (NHW AA vs AG/GG, p = 0.7232; H AA vs. AG/GG, p = 0.5187) or CCR2 genotype (NHW AA vs GG/GG, p = 0.6826; H GG vs. AA/AG, p = 0.2425). Conclusion Prior studies have shown conflicting results regarding the association between bladder cancer risk and the CCL2 rs1024611 and CCR2 rs1799864 polymorphisms. We were unable to validate significant findings regarding any relationship between these polymorphism distributions across individuals with or without bladder cancer in a cohort of non-Hispanic White and Hispanic White men, suggesting no role of CCL2/CCR2 polymorphisms in bladder cancer.