Mohammed Abdulrahman Alsobay
Diplomatic Quarter High School, Riyadh, SAUDI ARABIA
Carcinoma of the uterine cervix is the twelfth most common neoplaisa in Saudi Arabian women, versus third worldwide. Inherent tendency to develop cancer has been suggested to be related to single-nucleotide polymorphic variation (SNPs). SNPs in genes involved in pathways related to cell-cycle control, DNA repair, and apoptosis have been suggested to affect genetic predisposition to cervical cancer. A strong candidate for this relation is a common G/C polymorphism at codon 72 of TP53 that results in an arginine to proline change in the amino acid sequence of the encoded p53 protein.
This study investigated the association between the TP53 G72C polymorphism and the risk of developing cervical cancer in 339 Saudi women. DNA was extracted from 5ml whole blood, and the relevant DNA segment was amplified by polymerase chain reactions sequenced, and TP53 G72C genotyped. A statistically significant association (P = 0.03) between the TP53 G72C SNP and cervical cancer occurred. The variant C/C genotype showed increased risk to develop cervical cancer. At 5% significance level for 1 degree of freedom, the genotype frequencies of the control group were out of the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (chi-squared = 9.6), while that of the patients were within Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (chi-squared = 0.41).
We conclude that TP53 G72C polymorphism is associated with cancer predisposition and the variant C/C genotype increases twofold the risk of developing cervical cancer in Saudi females. This may uncover more polymorphic variations that can be used as applicable biomarkers.