Evaluating Genetic Variation in Codon 72 of the p53 Gene and Its Role in the Incidence of Esophageal Cancer: A Case-Control Study

Background: p53 is one of the important gene in suppressing tumor formation.Polymorphism of the p53 gene in codon 72 is associated with an increased risk of the cancer.This study aimed to evaluate the p53 codon 72 polymorphism in esophageal cancer patients.Methods: This case-control study was conducted using 32 patients with esophageal squamous carcinoma and 32 healthy control subjects.The polymorphism of the p53 gene was determined by using the PCR-RFLP method.Serum P53 levels were evaluated by the ELISA technique.Results: Our results showed that the frequency of arginine-arginine, arginineproline and proline-proline genotypes were 18.75, 37.5 and 43.75 in the patient group and 9.53, 56.25 and 34.37 in the control group, respectively.No significant difference was observed between the mean serum levels of P53 protein in the patient group and the control group. Conclusion:The present study showed that the predominant polymorphism in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is the proline-proline polymorphism.Accordingly, it can be concluded that the proline-proline variant may play an important role in the pathogenesis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and further investigation of it can lead to improved diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.