Copyright: © 2020 Tai et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP-8) is a gene associated with inflammation and prognosis in colorectal cancer (CRC). Here, we studied the link between the rs11225395 polymorphism of MMP-8 gene and CRC risk. We recruited 551 CRC cases and 623 controls from among a subpopulation of Han Chinese patients. Data found that this variant was connected to an increased risk of CRC (TT versus CC: OR, 1.76; 95%CI, 1.09–2.84; P = 0.021; T versus C: OR, 1.29; 95%CI, 1.07–1.56; P = 0.007). Stratified analyses indicated a positive association among smokers (TT versus CC: OR, 2.31; 95%CI, 1.12–4.79; P = 0.024), males, and patients ≥ 60 years old. Crossover analysis showed that the potential interaction between smoking or drinking and the MMP-8 rs11225395 polymorphism was related to elevated risk for CRC. The rs11225395 polymorphism was also connected with lymph node metastasis and TNM stage. Moreover, the CRC cases carrying a TT genotype of MMP-8 rs11225395 presented had poorer overall survival than the CC genotype carriers. These findings show that MMP-8 rs11225395 correlates with an elevated risk of CRC and poor patient prognosis in a subpopulation of the Han Chinese subpopulation. Thus, the MMP-8 rs11225395 polymorphism could potentially function as a biomarker predictive of CRC susceptibility.