Association between BTLA polymorphisms and susceptibility to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in the Chinese population

Background Growing evidence suggested that B- and T-lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) polymorphisms raised the susceptibility to a wide range of cancers. This study aimed to evaluate whether BTLA variants were related to the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods A total of 721 ESCC patients and 1208 matched non-cancer controls were included in this research, and four tagging BTLA polymorphisms (rs2171513 G > A, rs3112270 A > G, rs1982809 G > A, and rs16859629 T > C) were selected and genotyped using SNPscan (TM) Assays. Results In the present study, no significant relationship between BTLA polymorphisms and ESCC was observed. However, stratified analyses suggested that the variant of BTLA rs3112270 A > G reduced the risk of ESCC in the male subgroup (AG vs AA: adjusted OR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.61-0.99, P = .042), BMI < 24 kg/m(2) subgroup (AG vs AA: adjusted OR = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.55-0.93, P = .012; AG/GG vs AA: adjusted OR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.60-0.98, P = .032), and ever drinking subgroup (AG vs AA: adjusted OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.38-0.97, P = .037). But when stratified by BMI >= 24 kg/m(2), the rs3112270 A > G polymorphism increased the susceptibility to ESCC (GG vs AA: adjusted OR = 1.91, 95% CI = 1.02-3.59, P = .045). Besides, we demonstrated that BTLA rs2171513 G > A polymorphism was protective of ESCC in the ever drinking subgroup (GA/AA vs GG: adjusted OR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.39-0.97, P = .037). Conclusion Taken together, our initial investigation postulated that the rs3112270 A > G and rs2171513 G > A variants in the BTLA gene are candidates for the risk of ESCC, which might be helpful for the early diagnosis and treatment of ESCC.