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Expression of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1), an interstitial collagenase, plays a major role in cellular invasion during development of gastric cancer, a leading cause of death worldwide. A single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) -1607 1G/2G site of the MMP-1 gene promoter has been reported to alter transcription level. While the importance's of other SNPs in the MMP-1 promoter have not yet been studied in gastric cancer, our aim was to investigate MMP-1 gene promoter polymorphisms and gastric cancer susceptibility in eastern Indian population. A total of 145 gastric cancer patients and 145 healthy controls were genotyped for MMP-1 -1607 1G/2G (rs1799750) by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), while MMP-1 -519 A/G (rs1144393), MMP-1 -422 T/A (rs475007), MMP-1 -340 T/C (rs514921) and MMP-1 -320 T/C (rs494379) were genotyped by DNA sequencing. A positive association was found with MMP-1 -422 T/A SNP that showed significant risk for regional lymph node metastasis (P = 0.021, Odd's ratio (OR) = 3.044, Confidence intervals (CI) = 1.187-7.807). In addition, we found a significant association with lower stomach tumor formation among gastric cancer patients for three adjacent polymorphisms near the transcriptional start sites of [MMP-1 -422 T/A (P = 0.043, OR = 2.182, CI = 1.03-4.643), MMP-1 -340 T/C (P = 0.075, OR = 1.97, CI = 0.94-4.158) and MMP-1 -320 T/C (P = 0.034, OR = 2.224, CI = 1.064-40731)]. MMP-1 level in patients' serum was correlated with MMP-1 promoter haplotypes conferring these three SNPs to evaluate the functional importance of these polymorphisms in lower stomach tumor formation and significant correlation was observed. Furthermore, MMP-1 -519 A/G polymorphism displayed poor cellular differentiation (P = 0.024, OR = 3.8, CI = 1.69-8.56) attributing a higher risk of cancer progression. In conclusion, MMP-1 proximal promoter SNPs are associated with the risk of lower stomach tumor formation and node metastasis in eastern Indian population.

The aim of this study is to understand the mechanism of EGFR overexpression in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). For this reason, expression/mutation of EGFR were analyzed in 30 dysplastic head and neck lesions and 148 HNSCC samples of Indian patients along with 3 HNSCC cell lines. In addition, deletion/methylation/mutation/expression of SH3GL2 (associated with EGFR degradation) and CDC25A (associated with dephosphorylation of EGFR) were analyzed in the same set of samples. Our study revealed high frequency of EGFR overexpression (66-84%), low frequency of gene amplification (10-32.5%) and absence of functional mutation in the dysplastic lesions and HNSCC samples. No correlation was found between protein overexpression and mRNA expression/gene amplification status of EGFR. On the other hand, frequent alterations (deletion/methylation) of SH3GL2 (63-77%) and CDC25A (37-64%) were seen in the dysplastic and HNSCC samples. Two novel single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) were found in the promoter region of SH3GL2. Reduced expression of these genes showed concordance with their alterations. Overexpression of EGFR and p-EGFR were significantly associated with reduced expression and alterations of SH3GL2 and CDC25A respectively. In-vitro demethylation experiment by 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC) showed upregulation of SH3GL2 and CDC25A and downregulation of EGFR expression in Hep2 cell line. Poor patient outcome was predicted in the cases with alterations of SH3GL2 and CDC25A in presence of human papilloma virus (HPV) infection. Also, low SH3GL2 and high EGFR expression was a predictor of poor patient survival. Thus, our data suggests that overexpression of EGFR due to its reduced degradation and dephosphorylation is needed for development of HNSCC.