A high-salt diet is a risk factor for gastric cancers other than those caused by Helicobacter pylori. The angiotensinogen (AGT) M235T polymorphism has been associated with salt sensitivity. The aim of the present study was to clarify the association between the AGT M235T polymorphism and gastric cancer. The AGT M235T polymorphism was genotyped using PCR-RFLP analysis in 206 gastric cancers and 210 control biopsies. A logistic-regression analysis was performed to identify an odds ratio to determine whether a correlation exists between genetic polymorphism and risk in patients with gastric cancer as compared to the control samples. Statistical significance was determined using the Mann Whitney U and Chi-square tests. The genotype distribution was found to be MM=9 (4.4%), MT=57 (27.7%), and TT=140 (67.9%) in samples from patients with gastric cancer and MM=8 (3.8%), MT=60 (28.6%) and TT=142 (67.6%) in the control samples. The odds ratio of gastric cancer of the MM genotype associated with the T carrier was 1.0 (0.4-2.7) (P=0.95). The distribution pattern of AGT M235T polymorphism in the gastric cancer cases and controls was not found to be significantly different in this study. Thus, it can be concluded that other sites of AGT polymorphism or other salt sensitivity genes may be associated with gastric cancer.

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