Subjects who were initially cancer-free and carrying certain genetic variants of TCF7L2, most notably the T allele of rs7903146, have an increased risk of colon cancer.
The results showed that TCF7L2 polymorphism was associated with breast cancer (Homogeneous model: OR=1.17, 95%CI=1.02-1.35, I (2) =21.8%, p for heterogeneity=0.276; Heterogeneous model: OR=1.11, 95%CI=1.03-1.20, I (2) =0.0%, p for heterogeneity=0.543), prostate cancer (Homogeneous model: OR=0.89, 95%CI=0.84-0.96, I (2) =0.0%, p for heterogeneity=0.640; Heterogeneous model: OR=0.89, 95%CI=0.84-0.95, I (2) =0.0%, p for heterogeneity=0.871), and colon cancer (Heterogeneous model: OR=1.15, 95%CI=1.01-1.31, I (2) =0.0%, p for heterogeneity=0.658), but not with colorectal cancer, lung cancer, and ovarian cancer.
We identified two regions that specifically bind the β-catenin/TCF-4 complex in vitro and in vivo, identifying HMGA1 as an immediate target of the β-catenin/TCF-4 signalling pathway in colon cancer.