Objective: To investigate the possible association between the p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism and susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Chinese population.
Methods: Genomic DNA of the normal liver tissues was extracted from 507 patients with HCC confirmed by histopathological examination and 541 patients with benign liver diseases. PCR-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method was used to determine the p53 Arg72Pro genotypes. Odds ratios (ORs) for HCC and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) from unconditional logistic regression models were used to evaluate the relative risks. Potential HCC risk factors were included in the logistic regression models as covariates in the multivariate analyses on genotype and HCC risk.
Results: The frequencies for Pro and Arg alleles were 0.445 and 0.555 respectively in the HCC cases, and 0.403 and 0.597 respectively in the controls. The Pro allele was marginally significantly associated with the presence of HCC (P = 0.053) and had an increased risk for HCC (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.00 - 1.41) as compared to the Arg allele. Carriers of the Pro, or the "risk" allele, had a 1.33-fold increased risk (95% CI = 0.92 - 1.92, P = 0.133) of HCC compared to the Arg-only carriers. Compared to Arg/Arg homozygote, Arg/Pro heterozygote had a 1.21-fold increased risk (95% CI = 0.82 - 1.78, P = 0.341), whereas Pro/Pro homozygote had a 1.79-fold increased risk (95% CI = 1.06 - 3.01, P = 0.029) of HCC (Armitage's trend test, P = 0.046).
Conclusion: The Pro allele of p53 Arg72Pro is associated with the presence of HCC and Pro/Pro homozygote is potentially one of the risk genetic risk factors for HCC in Chinese population.