Risk of penile tumor development in Caucasian individuals is independent of the coding variant rs7208422 in the TMC8 (EVER2) gene.

Genetic variation in the transmembrane channel-like (TMC)6/TMC8 region has been linked to ß-type human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin and the head and neck, α-type HPV persistence and progression to cervical cancer. The functional variant rs7208422 of the TMC8 gene was suggested to have a high impact on susceptibility to ß-papillomaviruses and their oncogenic potential and to also have an influence on α-type HPV-related disease. The aim of the present study was to evaluate a possible influence of rs7208422 on penile cancer risk, a known α-type HPV-related malignancy. Therefore, the distribution of rs7208422 was determined by direct Sanger sequencing of 104 Caucasian penile SCC cases and compared to data of 3,810 controls taken from the literature. HPV detection was performed by usage of GP5+/6+ primers and subtype-specific PCR. It was observed that the distribution of rs7208422 followed the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in both cases and controls. HPV DNA was detected in 39% of the penile SCC cases. Overall, there was no significant difference in the distribution of rs7208422 neither between cases and controls (P=0.726) nor between HPV-positive and -negative penile SCC cases (P=0.747). There was also no association between rs7208422 genotypes and age of disease onset (P=0.740). In conclusion, the present data argue against a significant impact of rs7208422 on the risk for the development of penile SCC in Caucasians. Even in combination with the HPV status, the SNP appears not to influence the risk of penile SCC in HPV-positive cases.