Identification of variants in cyclin D1 (CCND1) and B-Cell CLL/lymphoma 2 (BCL2)

CCND1 is an important cell-cycle regulatory protein associated with cell proliferation, poor prognosis and recurrence in cancer, while BCL2 is an important anti-apoptotic protein that plays a vital role in the regulation of the life span by controlling the rate of apoptosis. Recent studies have shown that CCND1 and BCL2 may be responsible for the body mass and the regulation of various metabolic processes. In an effort to discover additional polymorphism(s), we scrutinized the genetic polymorphisms in the CCND1 and BCL2. By direct DNA sequencing in 24 individuals, we identified 22 sequence variants within the 16 kb of whole CCND1 gene: one in exon 4, 17 in introns and four in the 3′ UTR region. We also found eight sequence variants within 7.5 kb exon–intron boundaries of BCL2 gene: one in promoter, three in exon 1, and four in the 3′ UTR region. Haplotypes, their frequencies and linkage disequilibrium coefficients (|D′| and r2), among polymorphisms were estimated. Among identified variants, seven and six variants of CCND1 and BCL2 were genotyped in a larger series of subjects (n=320). Statistical analyses of CCND1 and BCL2 polymorphisms with two metabolic phenotypes revealed no significant association. The information concerning genetic polymorphisms of CCND1 and BCL2 might provide valuable information for future genetic studies of diseases.