title: p53 codon 72 polymorphism and susceptibility malignancy of colorectal cancer in Taiwan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The p53 tumor suppressor gene plays two important roles in genomic stability: blocking cell proliferation after DNA damage until it has been repaired, and starting apoptosis if the damage is too critical. A recent report suggests that a polymorphism of the p53 tumor suppressor gene that results in the substitution of a proline residue with an arginine residue at position 72 of the p53 protein might act as a risk factor in the malignant transformation of colorectal adenoma to cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  In our study, the samples consisted of 150 patients were analyzed for the mutation in the p53 gene. The age of 150 patients (46 women and 104 men) ranged from 30 to 91 years (mean age 68.46 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The polymorphism showed 52.04% mutant in the codon 72 of exon 4 in the Taiwanese population. Both of the chi-square for trend test (chi-square = 4.97, p = 0.034) and logistic regression (p = 0.037, odds ratio = 1.699) showed significant differences in the distribution of polymorphism of codon 72 in the p53 gene and Dukes classification of colorectal cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There were significant relationship between the polymorphism of codon 72 and the malignancy of colorectal cancer in Taiwanese population. There is 1.70 times in each grade change (Dukes A-D) more risk of CCC polymorphism than that of CCG polymorphism of codon 72 of exon 4.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Military Kaohsiung General Hospital, Taiwan. forwey@ksts.seed.net.tw
authors.forename: For-Wey
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Lung
authors.forename: Tai-Min
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Bih-Ching
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.forename: Fu-Hsin
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D003062:Codon; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D016158:Genes, p53; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D012307:Risk Factors; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D003062:Codon