Peiqi Liu,1 Yue Li,1 Yong Li,2 Li Li,3 Jiwen Cheng,4 Suhong Li,5 Jiao Zhang,6 Haixia Zhou,7 Yunlong Huo,8 Zhonghua Yang,1 Jing He,9 Ran Zhang1 

1Department of Pediatric Surgery, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, 110004, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pediatric Surgery, Hunan Children’s Hospital, Changsha, Hunan, 410007, People’s Republic of China; 3Kunming Key Laboratory of Children Infection and Immunity, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Children’s Major Disease Research, Yunnan Institute of Pediatrics Research, Yunnan Medical Center for Pediatric Diseases, Kunming Children’s Hospital, Kunming, Yunan, 650000, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Pediatric Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710000, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Pathology, Children Hospital and Women Health Center of Shanxi, Taiyuan, Shanxi, 030000, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Pediatric Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450000, People’s Republic of China; 7Department of Hematology, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, 325000, People’s Republic of China; 8Department of Pathology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, 110004, People’s Republic of China; 9Department of Pediatric Surgery, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Research in Structural Birth Defect Disease, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510623, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Ran Zhang, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, No. 36, Sanhao Street, Heping District, Shenyang, Liaoning, 110004, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-24-9661557111, Email zrjason@163.com Jing He, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Research in Structural Birth Defect Disease, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, 9 Jinsui Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510623, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86-020 38076560, Email hejing198374@gmail.com

Background: Neuroblastoma (NB) is a malignancy of neural crest cells that primarily affects children. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene, a well-conserved gene, have been implicated in tumorigenesis. However, there is currently insufficient evidence to establish the relationship between FTO gene SNPs and susceptibility to NB.
Methods: A TaqMan assay was conducted to examine the potential associations between FTO gene SNPs and the risk of NB in a cohort of 898 patients and 1734 controls from eight medical centers in China. Additionally, stratification analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between the selected FTO SNPs and the susceptibility to NB among various subgroups.
Results: No significant association was found between the selected FTO polymorphisms and the risk of NB in either the single locus analysis or the combined analysis.
Conclusion: However, our study reveals that individuals with retroperitoneal NB and those with stage III+IV NB are more prone to exhibit FTO SNPs compared to other patients. Moreover, participants with the FTO rs8047395 GG genotype displayed a higher likelihood of developing stage III+IV NB in comparison to other participants.

Keywords: FTO, single nucleotide polymorphisms, neuroblastoma, susceptibility