Reports of Biochemistry

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among women worldwide. Tumor protein 53 (TP53) and its regulator the mouse double murine 2 (MDM2) have important roles in tumorigenesis by playing key roles in cell division and response to DNA damage. MDM2 SNP309 T>G (rs2279744) polymorphism in the promoter region of MDM2 gene can cause dysfunction and inactivation of TP53 which promote tumor progression as a result. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between this polymorphism and risk of breast cancer in northeastern Iranian population.

Material: A case-control study with 128 breast cancer patients and 143 healthy women was conducted. PCR-ARMS was performed to assess the MDM2 SNP309 T>G (rs2279744) polymorphism.

Results: The GG Genotype frequency between patients and controls showed no significant association between this polymorphism with breast cancer risk (p=0.116, OR [95% CI]: 1.267 [0.616, 2.603]). Also, G allele frequency was not associated with breast cancer risk in studied population (p=0.143, OR [95% CI]: 1.326 [0.908, 1.935]). For this polymorphism, a significant difference of 8.0 years in the average age of cancer diagnosis was observed between TT and TG carriers (40.57 versus 48.15 years, p = 0.029).

Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the SNP309 T>G polymorphism in the MDM2 gene may not be associated with the risk of breast cancer in an Iranian population