Genotyping of single nucleotide polymorphisms using the SNP-RFLP method.

Genetic polymorphisms, including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), are responsible for inter-individual variability in susceptibility to cancer and other disorders. Both environmental factors (e.g., smoking or carcinogen exposure) and genetic variation underlie the development of cancer; however, studies of twins suggest that genetic variation is more important. Hence, the identification of SNPs makes an important contribution to cancer research. In this study, 13 SNPs in 12 genes were genotyped in HEK 293 and HeLa cells using the simple and inexpensive SNP-RFLP method. Sanger sequencing was performed for one SNP to validate the SNP-RFLP results. Of the 13 SNPs, 10 were homozygous and three were heterozygous (rs10937405, rs12296850, and rs3814113) in HEK 293 cells, while 12 were homozygous and one was heterozygous (rs995030) in HeLa cells. The cells carried eight disease-associated risk alleles (32% of typed alleles), including rs2853677, rs995030, rs2736100, and rs6010620 in HEK 293 cells, and rs10937405, rs3814113, rs4767364, and rs6010620 in HeLa cells. Four SNP loci were homozygous for different alleles in each cell line, with HEK 293 cells having a CC genotype at rs2853677, GG at rs2736100 and rs4767364, and TT at rs3819197, while HeLa cells had TT genotypes at rs2853677 and rs2736100, AA at rs4767364, and CC at rs3819197. In conclusion, these results are potentially applicable for testing of novel gene therapeutic approaches in future experiments where the non-risk alleles of the eight identified risk alleles are substituted into HEK 293 or HeLa cells.