A link between the p53 germ line polymorphisms and white blood cells apoptosis in lung cancer patients

The p53 protein acts as a checkpoint in the cell cycle, either preventing or initiating apoptosis. Since cancer is the unchecked proliferation of cells, p53s role is critical. Thus, we have sought a link between the p53 polymorphisms and apoptosis. Wild-type p53 tumor suppressor gene exhibits several common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) both in coding and non-coding regions. We focused on two of them, the p53 BstUI SNP on the fourth exon, and the p53 MspI SNP on the sixth intron. We investigated a presence of these two polymorphisms in relation to apoptosis of white blood cells in lung cancer patients and healthy controls. We found that both the p53 BstUI and the p53 MspI homozygous genotypes A2/A2 were associated with significantly higher content of apoptotic white blood cells in comparison to relevant A2/A1 heterozygous genotypes (P<0.001,0.05) in lung cancer patients. These observations suggest that the p53 BstUI and the p53 MspI SNPs may play a certain role in p53 dependent apoptotic pathway.