Investigating the p53 codon 72 polymorphism in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Background: The p53 tumor suppressor gene plays important roles in genomic stability. A common polymorphism at codon 72 in the p53 gene has been associated with increased risk for lung, oral, prostate, breast and colorectal cancers. Several reports have noted racial differences in the prevalence of p53 genotypes at the codon 72 in certain cancer types. We studied this polymorphism in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in Isfahan, Iran. Methods: We undertook a case-control study to examine the possible associations of the TP53 variants Arg4Pro at codon 72 with the risk of chronic myeloid leukemia. 41 whole blood specimens from healthy people as controls and 41 bone marrow specimens from patients with chronic myeloid leukemia from the city of Isfahan were analyzed. p53 codon 72 genotypes were identified using allelespecific polymerase chain reaction. The gathered data were analyzed using chi-squared test. Findings: The genotype distribution for p53 polymorphism was 43.9, 51.2 and 4.9 percent for the Arg/Arg, Arg/Pro and Pro/Pro genotypes, respectively in control samples; and, 31.7, 46.3 and 22 percent for mentioned genotypes, respectively in chronic myeloid leukemia specimens. The differences in the distribution of p53 codon 72 polymorphism between the cases and controls were statistically significant (P = 0.023). Conclusion: The findings of the present study indicate that p53 codon 72 polymorphism may be a genetic factor in chronic leukemia development in Isfahan. However, further studies are needed in order to elucidate the role of p53 codon72 polymorphism in chronic myeloid leukemia. © 2015, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences(IUMS). All rights reserved.