Susceptibility to oral cancers with CD95 and CD95L promoter SNPs may vary with the site and gender

We investigated risk association of oral cancers (tongue and buccal mucosa cancers) with FAS (−1377G > A and FAS −670 A > G) and FASL (−844 T > C) SNPs, in males and females. A case–control study of 535 oral cancer and 525 control subjects was performed. SNPs were detected in the genomic DNA isolated from peripheral blood using PCR-RFLP. We report FASL −844 T > C SNPs increased risk for buccal mucosa cancer in females but not in males. On the other hand, FAS genotypes did not alter the risk of the cancers in both females and males. However, co-occurrence of FAS −1377 GA and −670 GG, FAS −1377 AA and −670 GG genotypes, and combined genotypes of FAS and FASL ( FAS −1377 AA + FAS −670 GG + FASL −844 CC) alter male susceptibility towards tongue cancer. In females, combined genotypes of FAS (−1377GA and −670 AA) were found to be a risk factor of buccal mucosa cancer (OR = 3.27, CI = 1.28–8.36; P ≤ 0.01). FASL variants (GA and AA) increased tongue cancer risk in females who were tobacco users compared to non-tobacco users. In conclusion, SNPs of the FAS and FASL might alter risk of tongue and buccal mucosa cancers differentially, in a gender-dependent manner.