DNA repair gene polymorphisms and prostate cancer risk in South Australia—results of a pilot study

ObjectiveSingle nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in DNA repair genes may impact on DNA damage, and cancer risk. To elucidate the role of SNPs in DNA repair genes in prostate cancer (PC) we conducted a case-control study comprising of 118 Caucasian men affected with late onset PC and 132 age-matched healthy controls from South Australia.Methods and materialsWe examined the association between PC risk with nonsynonymous SNPs (nsSNPs) in 5 genes involved in 3 DNA-repair pathways: (1) base excision repair (BER): hOGG1 C1245G (Ser326Cys) and XRCC1 G28152A (Arg399Gln); (2) nucleotide excision repair (NER): XPD G23591A (Asp312Asn); (3) homologous recombination repair: RAD51 G135C (in 5′ untranslated region) and XRCC3 C18067T (Thr241Met).ResultsProstate cancer risk was significantly increased only for carriers of the G allele of the C1245G polymorphism in the hOGG1 gene (OR = 2.28; 95% CI = 1.36–3.83; P = 0.002).ConclusionOur results suggest that this common nsSNP in a gene involved in repair of oxidative damage to DNA may contribute to PC susceptibility in South Australian men.