Studies of the L-myc DNA polymorphism and relation to metastasis in Norwegian lung cancer patients

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Abstract
We studied 83 lung cancer patients and 129 controls for the EcoRI polymorphism of the L-myc gene. No association was found between the L-myc RFLP and increased risk of metastasis, either to lymph nodes or metastasis to other organs. There was no difference in survival time between the three different genotypes. The S-allele of the L-myc RFLP has been correlated to increased metastasis in lung cancer. We found to tendency towards a higher frequency of this allele in the cohort of patients with positive family history compared to the patients with no known first degree relatives with cancer. A higher frequency of the S-allele in the adenocarcinomas compared to other histological groups was found, although this difference was not statistically significant. No difference in the gene frequency of the L-myc RFLP was found between the lung cancer patients and the normal controls. These results are in contrast with a previous report. Possible explanations for the discrepancies are discussed.