P53 codon 72 polymorphism as a risk factor in the development of HPV-associated cervical cancer

Human papilloma virus (HPV) has been implicated in cervical carcinoma, and the p53 gene is polymorphic at amino acid 72 of the protein that it encodes. The association between p53 polymorphisms and risk for HPV-associated cervical cancer has been examined, but the results have been conflicting. It has been reported that patients with the arginine form have a higher risk of developing cervical cancer than those with the proline form. The purpose of this study was to examine whether p53 Arg at the polymorphic position 72 could represent a risk factor for women with high-risk HPV-associated premalignant and malignant cervical lesions. The study was carried out on 60 smears from patients with high-risk HPV-related cervical lesions. Also, 74 HPV-negative normal smears and 61 normal blood samples were used as controls. HPV-18 was the most frequent type. There was a difference in the distribution of p53 genotypes between high-risk HPV-cervical lesions and the normal samples. The allele frequency of p53 Arg/Arg was much higher than the normal samples (46.5% versus 20.5% in HPV-negative normal smears and 20% in blood samples). Based on the findings of this study, it is suggested that p53 Arg homozygosity could possibly represent a potential risk factor for the tumorigenesis of the cervix. Statistically significant correlation was not observed between the presence of Arg/Pro homozygosity or Arg/Pro heterozygosity and HPV typing.