Association of variants in BAFF (rs9514828 and rs1041569) and BAFF-R (rs61756766) genes with the risk of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

The B-cell activator factor (BAFF)/BAFF receptor (BAFF-R) axis seems to play an important role in the development and progression of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Here, we investigated the association of eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the BAFF (TNFSF13B) and BAFF-R (TNFRSF13C) genes with risk of sporadic CLL in a group of 439 CLL patients and 477 controls. We also examined the correlation between selected SNPs and CLL clinical parameters as well as BAFF plasma levels and intracellular BAFF expression. Our results point to a possible association between the rs9514828 (CT vs. CC + TT; OR = 0.74; CI 95 % = 0.57; 0.97; p = 0.022) and rs1041569 (AT vs. AA + TT; OR = 0.72; CI 95 % = 0.54; 0.95; p = 0.021) of BAFF gene and rs61756766 (CC vs. CT; OR = 2.03; CI 95 % = 1.03; 3.99; p = 0.03) of BAFF-R gene and CLL risk. Additionally, we observed that homozygotes rs1041569 AA and TT had a slightly higher risk (HR = 1.12) for the need of treatment in comparison to AT heterozygotes. In conclusion, our results indicate that SNPs in BAFF and BAFF-R genes may be considered as potential CLL risk factors.