Background: Oncostatin M receptor (OSMR) represents a part of the interleukin-six (IL6) cytokine group that was discovered recently to be closely associated with cell's growth and differentiation, inflammation, and enhancement of metastatic capacity. A comprehensive study suggests a close relationship between OSMR and papillary thyroid cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and other tumors. However, the relationship between OSMR and bladder cancer has yet to be determined.
Methods: Three hundred six patients (including 142 patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer and 164 patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer) as well as 459 normal controls were included in this study. Two tag SNPs of OSMR, rs2278329, and rs2292016 were genotyped by TaqMan® SNP Genotyping Assay method and then the associations with bladder cancer were analyzed, as well as risk factors and prognosis.
Results: Patients with bladder cancer and controls did not differ significantly in terms of genotype frequencies and allele frequency distribution of rs2278329 (P = 0.77, OR = 0.97) and rs2292016 (P = 0.39, OR = 1.20) respectively. For rs2278329, no differences were found in terms of risk factors in stratified analyses. However, rs2292016 was associated with recurrence and tumor grade. GT/TT was found to increase the risk of relapse compared to the patients without allele T (GG genotype) (P = 0.016, OR = 1.878, 95% CI = 1.12-3.14) with the T allele of rs2292016 being a risk factor for recurrence (P = 0.032, OR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.47-0.97). Besides, patients with GT genotype often present with high-grade bladder cancer (P = 0.003, OR = 2.33, 95% CI = 1.32-4.17). Multiple Cox regression analysis showed that rs2278329 and rs2292016 were related to the recurrence-free survival and overall survival in non muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) patients. For rs2278329, GA genotype could affect recurrence-free survival (P = 0.01, OR = 2.16, 95% CI = 1.17-3.98). For rs2292016, TT/GT genotype had a lower risk of death compared with GG homozygote genotype, and T was a protective factor for overall survival in bladder cancer (P = 0.029, OR = 0.22, 95% CI = 0.06-0.86).
Conclusions: OSMR genotype frequencies were found to be associated with higher recurrence in bladder cancer, and it may serve as a biomarker candidate gene to predict prognosis of this disease. Further validation of OSMR as biomarker is required.
Keywords: Bladder cancer; Cancer risk; Oncostatin M receptor; Polymorphisms.