Profile and frequency of p53 gene alterations in gastritis lesions from Iran.
BACKGROUND
It has been frequently shown that p53 alterations have an important role in the development of gastric cancers but there is no data on p53 alteration in gastric cancer and its precancerous lesions from Iran although this country experiences one of the highest gastric cancer incidence and mortality rates in the world. The purpose of this study was to do a comprehensive assessment of p53 alterations in the Iranian population of gastritis patients and to evaluate the association between p53 alterations, microsatellite status and clinicopathological aspects.


METHODS
After DNA extraction, PCR sequencing was done for exons 2-7. Also microsatellite status was evaluated using five microsatellite markers: NR-27, NR-21, NR-24, BAT-25 and BAT-26.


RESULTS
The highest rate of alteration was seen in codons 72 (85.6%, SNP) and 248 (30.9%, mutation). Also, we found 2 new mutations in codons 9 and 146. In contrast with previous work, transition at the CpG codons was relatively rare. Nucleotide alterations were more prevalent in the Helicobacter pylori-positive group but not significantly. Neither nuclear staining for p53 protein nor microsatellite instability was seen in gastritis lesions.


CONCLUSIONS
p53 alterations might contribute to the pathogenesis of gastritis and perhaps gastric cancer in Iran. However, the different spectrum seen here implies other mechanism(s) in gastritis and gastric cancer development in the Iranian population.
Research Center for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shaheed Beheshti Medical University, Tehran, Iran. najjarsadeghi@yahoo.com
Rouhallah
R
Najjar Sadeghi
Pedram
P
Azimzadeh
Mohsen
M
Vahedi
Dariush
D
Mirsattari
Mahsa
M
Molaei
Seyed Reza
SR
Mohebbi
Homayon
H
Zojaji
Seyed Reza
SR
Fatemi
Mohamad Reza
MR
Zali
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D005756:Gastritis / Q000235:genetics*; D016158:Genes, p53; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D055815:Young Adult