MedWire News: Mexican women are at increased risk for developing cervical cancer if they carry a certain -1306 polymorphism in the promoter of the matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) gene, report investigators.

Ivan Delgado-Enciso (Universidad de Colima, Mexico) and colleagues performed genotype analysis of the two -1306 variants among 54 women with invasive squamous cell cervical cancer (SCCA), 100 with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), and 126 healthy women.

Distribution of the MMP-2 -1306 polymorphisms differed significantly between the three groups. A lower incidence of the CT genotype was observed among women with SCCA and CIN than among healthy controls, at 10 and 17 versus 21 percent, respectively. The homozygous CC genotype was detected in 73 and 69 percent more women with CIN and SCCA, respectively, than in healthy controls.

Women with the MMP-2 -1306 CC genotype were nearly three times more likely to develop cervical cancer than CT/TT carriers.

Overall, immature sexually active women aged 19 years or younger and women who had at least four pregnancies had an increased risk for CIN, at crude odds ratios (ORs) of 4.1 and 3.2, respectively, compared with other women.

Among young sexually active CC carriers specifically, the risk for SCCA was nearly four times greater than among those carrying the CT or TT genotypes. These women were also 2.67 times more likely to develop CIN than women with the CT or TT genotypes.

"The CC genotype increases the risk for developing cervical neoplasia, and this risk is probably accentuated in women affected by other environmental factors," conclude the authors.

Journal abstract