No association between the Trp53 codon 72 polymorphism and head and neck cancer: a case-control study in a South Indian population.

Genetic polymorphisms are important for predispositions to several human cancers. In the tumour suppressor Trp53 gene, a codon 72 polymorphism is frequent in the form of a single nucleotide polymorphism that leads to substitution of an arginine for a proline. In the present study, we analysed the association of Trp53 codon 72 polymorphs with head and neck cancer through a case-control study approach with PCR-RFLP of DNA from blood of 47 clinically confirmed patients and 52 healthy controls. The Pro (Trp5372P) and Arg (Trp5372R) allele frequencies in the healthy controls were 0.44 and 0.56, and not significantly different from those in the cancer patients at 0.56 and 0.44. The genotype distribution in the controls was 32.7% Arg/Arg, 46.2% Arg/Pro and 21.2% Pro/Pro and in the cancer patients 17.0% Arg/Arg, 53.2% Arg/Pro and 29.8% Pro/Pro. No significant difference in the distribution of genotypes between head and neck cancer patients and healthy controls (P=0.18, χ2 test) was observed. We conclude no association of Trp53 codon 72 polymorphism was observed with head and neck cancer susceptibility.