Analysis of p53 codon 72 gene polymorphism in Brazilian patients with endometriosis.

We examined the frequency of p53 codon 72 polymorphism in 38 patients with endometriosis whose diagnosis was confirmed using videolaparoscopy. Half of the women were infertile. There were no significant differences in the genotype (P = 0.0927) or allele frequencies (P = 0.1430) for p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism between the two groups. We found a significant association between the heterozygous and homozygous proline genotypes and intense pain in the patients. Sixty-four percent of the patients were homozygous or heterozygous for proline in patients with degree III or IV endometriosis, but there was no significant difference compared to homozygous arginine genotype (P = 0.6115). We found that the proline allele is associated with substantial complaints (infertility associated with pain), when compared to the homozygous arginine genotype; we also found that the proline allele was more frequent in endometriosis patients.