Background: Central nervous system (CNS) tumor is a malignancy commonly seen occurring in childhood, worldwide. Fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) enzyme, initially identified as an obesity-related protein, also functions as a susceptibility gene for cancers. However, predisposing effect of FTO  gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on CNS tumor risk remains unknown.
Methods: Herein, we genotyped 314 CNS tumor patients and 380 healthy controls samples from three hospitals to explore whether FTO  gene SNPs impact CNS tumor risk. TaqMan SNP genotyping assay was applied for the genotyping. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), generated from multinomial logistic regression, were applied to determine the associations of SNPs (rs1477196 G>A, rs9939609 T>A, rs7206790 C>G, and rs8047395 A>G) in FTO  gene with risk of CNS tumor.
Results: We failed to detect significant associations between FTO  gene SNPs and CNS tumor risk, either in single-locus or combined analysis. A significantly increased ependymoma risk was found for carriers with 3– 4 risk genotypes in comparison to 0– 2 risk genotypes (adjusted OR=1.94, 95% CI=1.11– 3.37, P =0.020).
Conclusion: Our data indicated that FTO  gene SNPs are unlikely to have large effects on CNS tumor risk but may have weaker effects.
Keywords: CNS tumor, risk, FTO , polymorphism, Chinese