BACKGROUNDIt has been proved that lysosome-associated protein transmembrane 4 beta (LAPTM4B) plays an important role in tumorigenesis, the *2/*2 genotype of LAPTM4B was closely related to liver cancer susceptibity. The aim of this study is to investigate the possible association between the allelic variation of LAPTM4B and the genetic susceptibility of lung cancer.

METHODSThe genotype of LAPTM4B was detected in 131 patients with lung cancer and 104 unrelated healthy adult individuals as control by polymerase chain reaction based on special primers. The genotypic distribution of LAPTM4B was analyzed by Chi-square test.

RESULTSThe allelic frequencies of the *1 and *2 were 74.8% and 25.2% in the lung cancer group and 72.1% and 27.9% in the healthy control group respectively, but no significant difference was observed between the two groups (Chi-square=0.433, P=0.510). The genotypic distribution of the *1/*1,*1/*2 and *2/*2 were 53.4%, 42.7% and 3.8% in the lung cancer group, 54.8%, 34.6% and 10.6% in the healthy control group respectively, there was no significant difference between the two groups (Chi-square=4.89, P=0.087). No remarkable association was observed between the genotypic distribution of LAPTM4B and the clinical information in the patients with lung cancer, including pathological type and TNM staging.

CONCLUSIONSThe results suggest that the allele of LAPTM4B is not closely associated with genetic susceptibility of lung cancer.