Association of erythropoietin gene rs576236 polymorphism and risk of adrenal tumors in a Chinese population

Erythropoietin（EPO） is a circulating glycosylated protein hormone and has been implicated in the development and progression of non-hematopoietic tissue tumors.The objective of the present study was to determine if the EPO rs576236 polymorphism was associated with the risk of adrenal tumors.We genotyped the EPO rs576236 polymorphism in a case-control study of 288 adrenal tumor patients and 456 cancer-free controls by using the TaqMan method,and assessed the association between the polymorphism and the adrenal tumor risk by logistic regression.Furthermore,95%confidence interval（CI） was used to assess the genetic association between the polymorphism and the risk of adrenal tumor.Compared with the TT genotype,the TC genotype had a significantly increased risk of adrenal tumor[adjusted odds ratio（OR） = 1.24,95%CI = 1.12-2.22].Furthermore a significantly increased risk of adrenal tumor was found in the combined variant genotypes TC＋CC compared with the TT genotype（adjusted OR = 1.17,95%CI = 1.12-2.21）.Our present study suggests that the rs576236 polymorphism of EPO confers susceptibility to adrenal tumor in the Chinese population.