The tumor suppressor TP53 and its negative regulator MDM2 play crucial roles in carcinogenesis. Previous case-control studies also revealed TP53 72Arg>Pro and MDM2 309T>G polymorphisms contribute to the risk of common cancers. However, the relationship between these two functional polymorphisms and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) susceptibility has not been explored.

In this study, we performed a case-control study between 522 NPC patients and 722 healthy controls in a Chinese population by using PCR-RFLP.

We found an increased NPC risk associated with the MDM2 GG (odds ratio [OR] =2.83, 95% confidence interval [CI] =2.08-3.96) and TG (OR = 1.49, 95% CI =1.16-2.06) genotypes. An increased risk was also associated with the TP53 Pro/Pro genotype (OR = 2.22, 95% CI = 1.58-3.10) compared to the Arg/Arg genotype. The gene-gene interaction of MDM2 and TP53 polymorphisms increased adult NPC risk in a more than multiplicative manner (OR for the presence of both MDM2 GG and TP53 Pro/Pro genotypes = 7.75, 95% CI = 3.53-17.58).

The findings suggest that polymorphisms of MDM2 and TP53 genes may be genetic modifier for developing NPC.

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