p53 polymorphism in human papillomavirus-associated Kazakh's esophageal cancer in Xinjiang, China

AIM: To investigate the relationship between p53 codon 72 polymorphism and human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 infection in Kazakh's esophageal cancer (EC) in Xinjiang, China. METHODS: Encoding regions of p53 codon 72 and HPV-16 E6 were amplified by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods using pairs of primary esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) tissue and corresponding normal mucosa, which were collected from 104 patients of Kazakh in Xinjiang, China. RESULTS: Only arginine allele was detected in 70.1% (39/55) of HPV-16-E6-positive cases but only in 40.8% (20/49) of HPV-16-E6-negative cases (P<0.05; OR, 3.53; 95% CI, 1.57-7.98). In contrast, such a significant correlation between p53 polymorphism and HPV infection was not evident in corresponding normal mucosae. The allele frequency of Arg allele in cancer cases (0.68) was higher than that in normal mucosa samples (0.54) (P<0.05; OR, 1.80; 95% CI, 1.21-2.69). CONCLUSION: p53 codon 72 Arg homozygous genotype is one of the high-risk genetic factors for HPV-associated SCC of Kazakh. Individuals carrying Arg allele compared to those with Pro allele have an increased risk for esophageal SCC.