Cytotoxic T lymphocyte associated molecule -4 (CTLA-4) gene polymorphisms in ovarian cancer patients

Ovarian cancer is a relatively common cancer among postmenopausal women. Nowadays, there is controversy about immunotherapy of ovarian cancer patients with interleukins such as interferon to reach better out come in prognosis of patients under chemotherapy. CTLA-4 is a gene, which has an important role in homeostasis and regulation of immune response. Inhibitory nature of CTLA-4 is proved to be of significance in autoimmune diseases as well as in cancer. In this study we intend to find out the relationship between polymorphisms of this gene at the sites of +49 A/G and -318 C/T and ovarian cancer. The polymorphisms of the CTLA-4 gene at the sites of +49 A/G exon and -318 C/T promoter were investigated. Blood samples of 73 patients with ovarian cancer and 115 healthy subjects used for DNA extraction. Two groups genotypes and alleles were determined using PCR method and compared by statistical t-student test. There was no statistically significant difference in genotypes and alleles prevalence of +49 A/G and -317 C/T between two groups (p>0.05). Further researches with larger sample size while paying attention to the relation between the gene polymorphism and stage and type of tumor is recommended.