Polymorphisms in DNA repair gene XRCC1 and increased genetic susceptibility to breast cancer

X-ray repair cross-complementing 1 (XRCC1) gene encodes for a scaffolding protein, which plays an important role in base excision DNA repair by bringing together DNA polymerase beta, DNA ligase III and poly(ADP-Ribose) polymerase (PARP) at the site of DNA damage. Three polymorphisms of the XRCC1 gene at codons 194, 280 and 399 leading to amino acid changes at evolutionary conserved regions are found to alter the efficiency of the resulting protein and may therefore constitute potential breast cancer risk. In the present study we sought to determine whether these genetic variants of the XRCC1 gene was associated with any increased risk of breast cancer among the South Indian women in a hospital based case control study using PCR-RFLP and DNA sequencing techniques. Our data showed a positive association between the polymorphisms of codons 194 (OR= 1.98, 95% CI = 1.13-3.48 for Trp allele) and 399 (OR = 2.14, 95% Cl = 1.29-3.58 for Gln allele) and breast cancer risk. However, XRCC1 codon 280 genotype analysis showed no evidence for an association with increased risk of breast cancer. A combined analysis of the effect of XRCC1 codon 194 and 399 revealed the highest risk (OR= 3.64, 95% CI= 1.57-8.46) for carriers of the polymorphic alleles in both these codons. In conclusion, the present study suggested involvement of XRCC1 codon 194 and 399 polymorphisms in the genetic predisposition to breast cancer among South Indian women. Our preliminary results based on the analysis of functionally relevant polymorphisms in XRCC1 low penetrance gene may provide a better model that would exhibit additive effects on individual susceptibility to breast cancer.