CCR4 1014C/T and CCL22 16C/A Genetic Variations in the Iranian Patients with Thyroid Cancer

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between thyroid cancer and 16C/A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in C-C motif chemokine 22 (CCL22) as well as 1014C/T SNP in C-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CCR4). Method: In this case-control study, Polymerase Chain Reaction Restriction-Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was performed for 113 thyroid cancer patients and 112 age-sex matched healthy controls to investigate the genotype distribution. Results: At position 16C/A in CCL22, 95 patients (84.3%) were found to have CC genotype while 17 individuals (14.8%) inherited CA genotype and 1 (0.9%) had AA genotype. In the control group, 92 volunteers (82.1%) inherited CC genotype, 18 individuals (16.1%) had CA genotype, and 2 (1.8%) had AA genotype. The frequency of CC, CT, and TT genotypes of 1014C/T SNP in CCR4 gene was 60 (53.1%), 43 (38.1%), and 10 (8.8%) in the patients, and 57 (53.3%), 43 (40.2%), and 7 (6.5%) in the control group, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences between the patients and controls in terms of 16C/A polymorphism in CCL22 (P= 0.816) and 1014C/T SNP in CCR4 1014C/T gene position (P=0.801). Nevertheless, the study of their association indicated that inheriting the CC genotype of CCR4 is significantly associated with higher stages (stages 3 and 4) in thyroid cancer. Conclusion: 1014C/T genetic variation in CCR4 and 16C/A polymorphism in CCL22 were not found to have a role in the incidence of thyroid cancer. Inheriting CC genotype at 1014 locus in CCR4 may, however, affect cancer progression in patients with thyroid cancer.