Association of Polymorphisms in X-Ray Repair Cross Complementing 1 Gene and Risk of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma in a Chinese Population

OBJECTIVES To investigate the association between three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the X-ray repair cross complementing 1 gene (XRCC1) and the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in Chinese population. METHODS A case-control study including 381 primary ESCC patients recruited from hospital and 432 normal controls matched with patients by age and gender from Chinese Han population was conducted. The genotypes of three XRCC1 polymorphisms at -77T>C (T-77C), codon 194 (Arg194Trp), and codon 399 (Arg399Gln) were studied by means of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism techniques (PCR-RFLP). Unconditional logistic regression model and haplotype analysis were used to estimate associations of these three SNPs in XRCC1 gene with ESCC risk. RESULTS Polymorphisms at these three sites in XRCC1 gene were not found to be associated with risk for developing ESCC; however the haplotype C(codon 194)G(codon 399)C(-77T>C) was significantly associated with reduced risk of ESCC (OR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.40-0.96) upon haplotype analysis. CONCLUSION These results suggested that the gene-gene interactions might play vital roles in the progression on esophageal cancer in Chinese Han population and it would be necessary to confirm these findings in a large and multiethnic population.