45th Annual SER Meeting Minneapolis, Minnesota June 27-30, 2012

[[abstract]]Head and neck cancer (HNC), including cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx, is the fth most common cancer in the world. One of the major risk factors of HNC is alcohol drinking; however, most alcohol drinkers do not develop HNC, suggesting a role of genetics. The current study recruited 133 incident cases of HNC and 128 sex and age matched controls from the department of otolaryngology and department of stomatology. Data on alcohol drinking were ascertained through in-person interview. Twenty-seven functional and tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of ve alcohol metabolizing genes (ADH1B, ADH1C, ADH4, ADH7, and ALDH2) were genotyped. Single SNP analysis, haplotype analysis, and gene-environment interaction analysis were performed using unconditional logistic regression adjusted for age, gender, and betel-quid chewing. Single SNP and haplotype analyses did not show any statistically signi cant (P < 0.05) association with HNC risk. Three SNPs (ADH1B rs1229984, ADH1C rs3762896, and ADH7 rs971074) showed a signi cant interaction with alcohol drinking to in uence HNC risk. Combining the three SNPs, daily alcohol drinking increased HNC risk among those with <2 variant alleles [odds ratio (OR) = 2.4, 95% con dence interval (CI): 1.1-5.2] but not among those with two or more variant alleles [OR =1.2, 95% CI: 0.5-3.2]. The current study indicates that polymorphisms of alcohol metabolizing genes may modify the risk of HNC due to alcohol drinking