The association between the polymorphism of RAR related orphan receptor beta and the clinical manifestations of oral squamous cell carcinoma

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) affects a substantial proportion of the Asian population and is influenced by various genetic risk factors. The RAR-related orphan receptor beta (RORB), a regulator of the circadian rhythm, has been implicated in certain neoplasms. Accordingly, this study investigated the association between RORB single-nucleotide polymorphisms and clinical manifestations of OSCC. A total of 1174 male patients without OSCC and 1254 male patients with OSCC were included in the study. Three RORB single-nucleotide polymorphism loci—rs3750420 (T/C), rs10781247 (A/G), and rs17611535 (C/T)—were genotyped using TaqMan allelic discrimination assays. RORB single-nucleotide polymorphism rs10781247 variants were significantly associated with moderate to poor cellular differentiation in patients with OSCC (p = 0.042). Additionally, among betel quid chewers with OSCC, rs10781247 variants were significantly associated with moderate to poor cell differentiation (p = 0.036). The rs3750420 variants were significantly associated with larger tumor size in individuals with buccal mucosa cancer (p = 0.036). An analysis of Cancer Genome Atlas data revealed that RORB mRNA levels were significantly higher in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma compared with controls (p = 0.0002). Moreover, RORB mRNA levels were significantly higher in stage IV tumors than in stage III tumors (p = 0.0252). In conclusion, RORB single-nucleotide polymorphisms rs3750420 and rs10781247 are associated with adverse clinical characteristics in OSCC.