[Study on the relationship between cervical cancer and p53 codon 72 polymorphism].

A polymorphism at codon 72 of the human tumor-suppressor gene, p53, results in translation to either arginine or proline. Some recent reports suggested that the risk of HPV-associated cervical cancer in white women is higher for those homozygous for the arginine allele than for those who are heterozygous; some reports did not. So we examined a number of cervical cancer, ovarian cancer and normal control to see if we could confirm this result. Three groups of women were studied: 20 women for normal control; 15 women with ovarian cancer; 15 women with cervical cancer. DNA from peripheral blood samples and from pathologic tissue sections was examined by PCR with allele-specific primers. The proportions of individuals homozygous for the arginine allele, homozygous for the proline allele and heterozygous for the two alleles were 38%, 6% and 56% in normal women; 38%, 5% and 57% in women with ovarian cancer; 78%, 8% and 14% in women with cervical cancer, respectively. Chi-square analysis showed significant differences in the proportions. In this population, individuals homozygous for the arginine variant of codon 72 of the p53 gene were at increased risk of cervical cancer.