The significance of P53 gene codons 72 and 213 polymorphisms in urinary bladder cancer in Central Poland

Abstract

Introduction. A major interest in human genetics is to distinguish functionally neutral mutations and polymorphisms from those that contribute to disease. Polymorphic variants of the P53 gene at codon 72 are associated with cancer susceptibility. The aim of our study was to characterize P53 polymorphism at codons 72 and 213 in bladder cancer patients and in a control group. Materials and methods. Ninety-five patients with clinically diagnosed urinary bladder tumors were included in the study. Pathology classified 36 tumors as low grade and 59 as high grade. Tumor stage was pTa or lower in 30 patients and at least pT1 in 65 patients. The control included DNA samples from the blood of 84 cancer-free individuals. The demonstration of codon 72 and codon 213 P53 polymorphisms was performed using PCR and MSSCP techniques. results. In the group of healthy patients we found the following distribution of polymorphism: ARG/ARG – 58.3%, ARG/PRO – 40.5%, and PRO/PRO – 1.2%. In the group of patients suffering from urinary bladder cancer it was 56.8%, 43.2%, and 0.0%, respectively. Statistical analysis of the distributions by the G-test did not reveal any significant difference (table 2x2 G = 0.433) Conclusions. Our study did not reveal that one of the polymorphic variants of the P53 gene codon 72 is a factor increasing the risk of urinary bladder cancer development in the Polish population. It needs to be mentioned, however, that the ARG/ARG genotype (leading to this kind of cancer, according to other researchers) is dominant in the tested population.