Association of reduced XRCC2 expression with lymph node metastasis in breast cancer tissues

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between reduction in XRCC2 gene and involvement of lymph node metastasis in breast cancer. In first part of the study, meta-analysis of 14 published XRCC2 studies was performed to define the role of XRCC2 gene as diagnostic marker and in second part of the study XRCC2 gene expression was observed using real time PCR in study cohort of 100 females (50 breast cancer patients and 50 controls). A statistically significant down regulation of XRCC2 (p < 0.04) and up-regulation of ki-67 (p < 0.05) was observed in breast cancer tissues compared to non-cancerous healthy tissues. In order to explore gene-gene and gene-clinicopathological parameters relationship Spearmen correlation was performed. We observed a significantly negative correlation between XRCC2 and Ki-67 expression (r = -0.376**, p < 0.01). In case of gene-clinicopathological parameters relationship, we observed a significant correlation between XRCC2 expression and lymph node status (r = -0.521***, p < 0.002) and metastatic status (r = -0.303*, p < 0.04) of breast cancer patients. Our data suggests that deregulation of XRCC2 in breast cancer has the potential to predict lymph node metastasis and may serve as a therapeutic target for breast cancer patients at risk of metastasis.