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Background: We previously showed that human papillomavirus (HPV) serostatus was not an independent risk factor for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC) in nonsmokers and nondrinkers; however, HPV increased the risk in smokers. Methods: Here we investigated possible interactions between HPV16 serostatus and three susceptibility loci identified in GWASs at apoptosis associated genes with regard to risk of ESCC in a case-control study of 313 patients with ESCC and 314 healthy controls. The loci (CHK2 rs738722, C12orf51 rs2074356, and PLCE1 rs2274223) were genotyped, and the presence or absence of HPV16 in serum was measured by ELISA. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate possible interactions of HPV16 serostatus and the three loci on the risk of ESCC. Results: A significant interaction was found between HPV16 serology and rs2074356 (P = 0.005, odds ratio [OR] 1.40, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11-1.77) or rs2274223 (P < 0.001, OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.23-1.91), but not for rs738722. For rs2074356, risk of ESCC was increased substantially in smokers (P < 0.001, OR 8.25, 95% CI 3.84-17.71) and drinkers (OR4.04, P = 0.001, 95% CI 1.79-9.10) who carried risk alleles (TT or TC genotype) and were HPV16-seropositive. Similar results were observed for rs2274223 in smokers (P < 0.001, OR6.06, 95% CI 2.85-12.88) and drinkers (P < 0.001, OR 5.43, 95% CI 2.51-11.76), but not for rs738722. Conclusion: Consistent with the previous study, loci at rs2074356 and rs2274223 could increase the risk of ESCC, furthermore, there were significant interactions between HPV sero-status and the susceptibility loci on the risk of ESCC. This effect could be modified obviously by smoking and drinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a major mediator of angiogenesis involving in carcinogenesis, including lung cancer. We hypothesized that VEGF polymorphisms may affect survival outcomes among locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC) patients. Methods: We genotyped three potentially functional VEGF variants [-460 T > C (rs833061), -634 G > C (rs2010963), and +936 C > T (rs3025039)] and estimated haplotypes in 124 Caucasian patients with LA-NSCLC treated with definitive radiotherapy. We used Kaplan-Meier log-rank tests, and Cox proportional hazard models to evaluate the association between VEGF variants and overall survival (OS). Results: Gender, Karnofsky's performance scores (KPS) and clinical stage seemed to influence the OS. The variant C genotypes were independently associated with significantly improved OS (CT+CC vs. TT: adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 0.58; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.37-0.92, P = 0.022), compared with the VEGF -460 TT genotype. Conclusions: Our study suggests that VEGF -460 C genotypes may be associated with a better survival of LA-NSCLC patients after chemoradiotherapy. Large studies are needed to confirm our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]