Although MNS16A has been investigated in multiple cancer epidemiology studies with incongruent findings, functional data of only two VNTRs (VNTR-243 and VNTR-302) were available thus far, linking the shorter VNTR to higher promoter activity.For the first time, we investigated promoter activity of all six VNTRs of MNS16A in cell lines of colorectal, lung and prostate cancer using Luciferase reporter assay.
Our finding of a MNS16A genotype conferring a protective effect against prostate cancer in older men suggests a potential role of this polymorphism in prostate cancer susceptibility but demands to be validated in further studies.