EPIDERMAL GROWTH FACTOR RECEPTOR (EGFR) POLYMORPHIC VARIATIONS (-216G/T & -191 C/A) POSE A HIGH RISK TO PATIENTS WITH MALIGNANT GLIOMA.

Background: Malignant gliomas are the most frequent and lethal brain tumors. Their molecular aspects remain intangible but current studies have pointed to certain genetic polymorphic loci that pose the risk. The polymorphic sequence variations of the epidermal growth factor receptor gene (EGFR) pathway play a vital role in the glioma risk, and the EGFR variants (216G>T and 191C>A) are identified to affect the risk for the development of different tumors including glioma.

Aim: To examine genetic variations of EGFR T rs712829 (216G/T) and rs712830 (191C>A) with respect to glioma risk.

Materials and methods: 129 confirmed glioma cases were genotyped against 180 malignancy-free healthy controls by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique (RFLP).

Results: The frequency of the TT homozygous variant of the EGFR -216 G/T genotype differed significantly between cases and controls (49.6% vs. 23.0%) (p < 0.0001). The EGFR -216 G>T allele 'T' was found significantly more frequently in cases (0.56 vs. 0.33 in controls; p < 0.0001). The EGFR -191C>A homozygous 'AA' genotype was implicated significantly more frequently in cases than in controls (p < 0.0001). The distribution of the 'A' variant allele was also more frequent in cases (41.9%) than in controls (14.0%) (0.55 vs. 0.30; p < 0.0001). TC and TA haplotypes showed varied frequency in cases and controls.

Conclusion: EGFR -216 G>T and -191 C>A variants and haplotypes (TA and TC) of the EGFR gene are very strong risk factors in the development of glioma in the Kashmiri population.