Abstract: Correlation between MDM2 Gene SNP309 Polymorphisms and Cervical Cancer Pei JIANG1 , Jianxin LIU2 , Wen LI 1 , Xiaoxi ZENG1 , Jianxin TANG1 Correspondence to: Jianxin TANG, E-mail: jy1046@yahoo.com.cn 1 Green Packaging and Biological Nanotechnology Laboratory, Hu'nan Polytechnic University, Zhuzhou 412008, China 2 School of Info-physics and Geomatics Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 60871007) and Research Fund of Hu'nan Provincial Bureau of Education (No. 09C313) Abstract Objective: Mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) is a key negative feedback regulator of p53 activity. Recently it is shown that there is a correlation between a polymorphism in the SNP309 location, an intronic promoter, and the suscepti- bility to different cancers. In the Chinese population, however, there is still no report on the correlation between the SNP309 polymorphism and cervical cancer. To better understand the role of this polymorphism in the etiology of cervical cancer, we investigated the correlation between MDM2-SNP309 and risk of cervical cancer in Han women of Southern China. Meth? ods: Peripheral blood samples were obtained from patients with cervical cancer ( n = 105 ) and healthy controls ( n = 140 ). A DNA extracting kit was used for genomic DNA preparation. Genotyping was confirmed with polymerase chain reaction-re- striction fragment length polymorphism ( PCR-RFLP ) and direct DNA sequencing. Logistic regression analysis was used to calculate adjusted odds ratio ( OR ) and 95% confidence interval ( 95% CI ). Results: The SNP309 G allele frequency was significantly higher in the cervical cancer patients than in the controls ( 60.0%vs 48.6%, P = 0.012; OR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.11-2.28 ). There were significant differences in distribution of the GG, TG, and TT allelotypes between the cervical cancer patients and the control group ( P < 0. 05 ). The GG genotype was more frequently found in the cervical cancer patients than in the controls (36.2% vs. 18.6%, P = 0.016; OR = 2.58, 95% CI = 1.19-5.61 ). Furthermore, we also found that the MDM2-SNP309 GG genotype was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis, but not with tumor histological type, tumor grade or size. Conclusions: Our findings show a significant association between a functional polymorphism in MDM2 and increased risk of developing cervical cancer in Chinese Han women. In addition, the SNP309 GG genotype may be a risk factor for lymph node metastasis of cervical cancer. Keywords MDM2; Gene; Polymorphism; Cervical cancer