X-ray Repair Cross Complementing 1 (XRCC1) Gene Polymorphism in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC)

Abstract Background Several risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been identified, including chronic infection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Nevertheless, only a fraction of infected patients develops HCC during their lifetime suggesting that genetic factors might modulate HCC development. The human X-ray repair cross- complementing protein 1 (XRCC1) gene encodes for one of the major repair factors involved in base excision repair (BER), which is reported to be associated with the risk of several cancers. A few studies have explored the association between risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in different DNA repair genes. Aim of the Work to investigate the possible association between XRCC1-G28152A (rs25487) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in chronic hepatitis C patients. Patients and Methods The study included 35 patients who had HCC and 15 patients who had liver cirrhosis. XRCC1 gene polymorphism was done to all participants by RT-PCR After collection of relevant clinical data and basic laboratory tests. Results A statistically higher frequency of XRCC1 (GG, GA) genotypes and increased (G) allele frequency in patients with HCC was found in comparison to cirrhotic HCV patients as well as control group but Our results revealed that the genotypic and allelic frequencies of XRCC1 gene polymorphism rs25487 didn’t show statistically significant difference between HCC patients group and liver cirrhosis control group. Conclusion The present study had demonstrated that there was no significant association between XRCC1 gene polymorphism (rs25487) and HCC in the sample of Egyptian population included in our study. Also, non-significant differences among the XRCC1 genotypes and alleles were found regarding age, sex, BMI and laboratory data including CBC, AFP, coagulation profile (PT, INR), liver function test ( total protein, albumin, AST, total bilirubin and direct bilirubin), BCLC and Milan criteria. While a statistically significant difference was observed as regards PTT and ALT between genotypes.