Genetic association of XRCC5 gene polymorphisms with breast cancer among Jordanian women

PURPOSE: Breast cancer (BC) is a complex disease that is governed by several different environmental and inherited factors. There are many genes have been linked with BC development by screening specific genetic variants within these genes. In this study, we aim to investigate the correlation between Variable Number Tandem Repeat (VNTR) in XRCC5 gene and BC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Gel electrophoresis were used to genotype the XRCC5 gene polymorphism in 200 cases with breast cancer and 200 healthy individuals. All participants were Jordanian women from Arab descents. Clinical and pathological characteristics for BC patients were summarized and categorized according to their medical records. RESULTS: In this study, we found a strong correlation between the VNTR polymorphism in the XRCC5 gene and BC risk (P-value<0.0001). Remarkably, three different genotypes (2R\2R, 3R\2R and 3R\3R) showed significant association with BC (P-value<0.0001). This study also reported a significant difference in the distribution of allele frequencies between BC patients and healthy individuals (3R; P-value<0.0001 and 2R; P-value<0.001). However, we propose that VNTR of XRCC5 gene did not interfere with BC prognosis. CONCLUSION: We speculate that the VNTR of XRCC5 gene may influence BC development. More investigations are needed in this regard to clarify the underlying role of the XRCC5 genetic variant in tumorgenesis including BC development.