The association of p53 codon 72 polymorphism with thyroid cancer in Turkish patients

Abstract

Objective: Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy. Molecular mechanisms underlying this disorder are heterogeneous and need to be clarified. Different polymorphic variants of the p53 gene have been demonstrated to be in association with several human malignancies. Of those, codon 72 polymorphism is the most extensively studied variant; however, so far only two studies have investigated the association of this polymorphism with thyroid cancer. Thus, we aimed to investigate the association of p53 codon 72 polymorphism with thyroid cancer in a group of Turkish patients. Material and Methods: 58 thyroid cancer patients and 115 healthy individuals were genotyped by PCR-based RFLP analysis. Results: Polymorphic proline allele frequency was higher in patients than in the controls. Pro/pro genotype was found to be a risk factor for thyroid cancer development. Arginine/proline genotype frequencies in patients and controls did not show any significant differences. There was no statistical difference between follicular adenoma and papillary carcinoma patients or TNM stages of papillary carcinoma patients for codon 72 genotypes. Discussion: Further studies involving codon 72 polymorphism of the p53 gene along with other susceptibility factors in different populations may be useful to clarify the molecular mechanisms underlying thyroid cancer development.