Role of five small nucleotide polymorphisms in the VEGF gene on the susceptibility to osteosarcoma and overall survival of patients

The present study aimed to investigate the association between five common small nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the VEGF gene and the risk of osteosarcoma. An additional aim was to investigate the role of these five SNPs on the prognosis of osteosarcoma. A total of 186 patients with osteosarcoma and 186 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled into the present study. A polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay was conducted to determine the incidence of the VEGF-2578 C/A, -1156 G/A, +1612 G/A, +936 C/T and -634 G/C polymorphisms. Conditional logistic regression analyses revealed that individuals carrying the -634 GG genotype possessed a significantly increased risk of osteosarcoma, with an adjusted odds ratio [(95% confidence interval (CI)] of 2.00 (1.07-3.75). In the Cox proportional hazards model, subsequent to adjusting for potential confounding factors, patients with osteosarcoma carrying the -634 GG genotype were found to demonstrate a shorter overall survival time (hazard ratio, 3.10; 95% CI, 1.17-8.38). The VEGF-634 G/C polymorphism may therefore be used as a genetic marker for the prediction of the risk and clinical outcome of osteosarcoma.