Survivin Promoter Polymorphism (-31 C/G): A Genetic Risk Factor for Oral Cancer

BACKGROUND: The polymorphism of survivin gene at its promoter region is one of the risk factors for OSCC . This polymorphism involves substitution of G for C (9904341), and it is present at the cell cycle dependent elements and cell cycle homology region repressor binding motif of promoter. This study aimed to find the association between survivin -31C/G polymorphism and prevalence of OSCC in a subset of Pakistani population. METHODOLOGY: This case-control study was conducted on 47 cases with and 101 healthy individuals with no family history of cancer. We used polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) protocols. RESULTS: The most common site of oral cancer in our research was the buccal mucosa followed by tongue and the least one was the labial mucosa. The histological tumor type of all 47 cases was squamous cell type. In our research, stage II had the highest prevalence, accounting for 34% of patients, while the prevalence of stage I was 31% in the case group. The prevalence of stage III and IV was 25% and 8%, respectively. The numbers of moderately and poorly differentiated tumors were equal. We found a significant association between the CC genotype of survivin and OSCC prevalence (OR was 9.395 at 95% CI: 1.0202-86.5251, p-value= 0.04). The GG genotype also showed significant P value (OR: 0.4709 with 95% CI: 0.2323- 0.9546 at a P VALUE of 0.0367). while no significant P value was noted for CG genotype (OR: 1.4317 with 95% CI: 0.7513 -2.8658, p- value= 0.31). CONCLUSION: Survivin -31G/C polymorphism was strongly associated with OSCC prevalence. The C allele was more common in case group as compared to healthy individuals living in Pakistan.