Genetic variants of AICDA/CASP14 associated with childhood brain tumor

We conducted a hospital-based case-control study in Korea to investigate whether apoptosis-and cell cycle controlrelated genes are associated with childhood brain tumor.Incident brain tumor cases (N = 70) and non-cancer controls (N = 140), frequency-matched by age and gender, were selected from 3 teaching hospitals in Seoul between 2003 and 2006.Tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (N = 297) in 30 genes related to apoptosis and cell cycle control were selected using a pairwise linkagedisequilibrium-based algorithm.Five tag SNPs in 2 genes (AICDA and CASP14) remained significant after adjusted multiple tests.The most significant association with childhood brain tumor risk was for IVS1-401G>C in the AICDA gene [odds ratio (OR) = 2.8; 95% confidence interval (95%CI) = 1.25-6.46];the polymorphism *9276A>C of CASP14 was associated with decreased brain tumor risk (OR = 0.4; 95%CI = 0.19-0.95).We concluded that genetic polymorphisms in AICDA and CASP14 are associated with risk for brain tumor in Korean children.