Document Type: Research Articles
Authors
1
Lebanese Atomic Energy Commission, Beirut, Lebanon
2
Department of Biochemistry, Lebanese University, Hadath, Lebanon
3
Department of Chemistry, Utah Valley University, Orem, UT, USA.
4
Department of Biology, Utah Valley University, Orem, UT, USA
5
Department of Urology, Al-Salam Hospital, Tripoli, Lebanon
6
Office of Academic Research Support, Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah, USA
Abstract
Aims: The goal of the study was to investigate possible association of some single nucleotide polymorphisms
(SNPs) in the VDR gene (the FokI, BsmI, ApaI and TaqαI loci), and the CYP17 gene (the MspA1I locus), and 0 or 9
TA repeats in the SRD5A2 gene, and prostate cancer (PCa) among Lebanese men. Materials and Methods: Blood
DNA of 69 subjects with confirmed PCa and 69 controls, all about 50 years of age or older, was subjected to PCR or
PCR-restriction fragment-length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analyses, and the risk-bearing and the protective alleles
were identified. The odds ratio (OR) of having a genotype and the relative risk (RR) of developing PCa were calculated.
In addition, the distributions of homozygosis and heterozygosis in the risk-bearing alleles and the protective alleles
among the control and the PCa groups were compared. Results: The f allele of the VDR FokI locus and the (TA) 9
repeat allele of the SRD5A2 gene were found to be associated with increased risks of PCa (p = 0.006 and 0.050,
respectively). Homozygosis in the risk-bearing alleles was rare both in the control and the PCa groups. A higher
fraction of the controls compared to the PCa group was double-homozygous in the two protective alleles (52.2% for
controls, 24.6% for PCa group, p = <0.001). Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first genetic study
demonstrating the association of certain polymorphisms of the VDR gene and the SDR5A2 gene and increased risk of
PCa among Lebanese men. Our study also indicates that the overall polymorphism profile of all genes involved in
the prostate physiology is likely to be a better indicator for PCa risk than the polymorphisms in the individual genes.
Keywords
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