Research Specifications

Abstract Thyroid cancer starts in the thyroid gland, a small butterfly-shaped gland located in the middle of the neck below the Adam’s apple. FAS-ligand (FASL) that binds its receptor FAS on responsive cells regulates apoptosis and other cellular processes in multiple cell types. Deregulation of apoptosis pathway, i.e. by mutations may prevent the immune system from the removal of the newly-formed tumor cells, and thus lead to tumor formation. A to G change at nucleotide position −124 of intron 2 (FASL INV2nt −124 A/G, rs5030772) is one of the polymorphisms which reported for FASL gene. This study has been performed to investigate the association of FASL INV2nt −124 A/G (rs5030772) with the risk of thyroid tumors in northwest of Iran. This case-control study was done on 114 patients with thyroid tumors and 126 healthy controls. The polymorphisms were determined by using tetra- ARMS-PCR method. The Javastate online statistics package was used for statistical analysis. The AA, AG, and GG genotype frequencies of the FASL INV2nt −124 A/G polymorphism were 40.35, 49.12, and 10.53% respectively in patients with thyroid tumors, and 41.6, 52.8, and 5.6% in healthy controls. The G allele frequencies were 35.08% in patients with thyroid tumors and 32% in healthy controls (p=0.656). There was no significant association between FASL INV2nt −124 A/G (rs5030772) polymorphism and susceptibility to thyroid tumors in the northwest of Iran (p>0.05). This study indicates that FASL INV2nt −124 A/G (rs5030772) polymorphism was not as a predisposing factor for thyroid tumors in the studied population. However, there is a need for further investigations to verify these results.