a common promoter polymorphism (-23hphi) in insulin gene and susceptibility to colorectal cancer

Background: with regard to the major role of insulin resistance in colorectal cancer (crc), this study investigated whether insulin (ins) gene -23hphi variant was associated with susceptibility to crc risk.methods: our study was conducted as a case-control study and 312 cases with crc and 438 controls were enrolled. all 750 subjects were genotyped for ins gene -23hphi variant using pcr-rflp method.results: there was no significant difference for the -23hphi variant of ins gene in either genotype or allele frequencies between the cases and the controls and this lack of difference remained non-significant even after adjustment for age, bmi, sex, smoking status, regular nsaid use, and family history of crc. no evidence for the effect modification of the association -23hphi variant and crc by bmi, sex, or tumor site was also observed. moreover, the risk of obesity in relation to the -23hphi variant in the controls and the cases was separately analyzed and we observed no significant difference between normal weight (bmi < 25 kg/m2) and overweight/obese (bmi ≥ 25 kg/m2) subjects.conclusions: these findings do not support the plausible effect of the ins gene -23hphi variant on crc risk; nonetheless, our finding requires confirmation and the role of the gene variant in carcinogenesis needs to be further evaluated.