DNA repair gene ERCC2, XPC, XRCC1, XRCC3 polymorphisms and associations with bladder cancer risk in a French cohort.

In polygenic diseases, association studies look for genetic variation such as polymorphisms in low penetrance genes, i.e. genes in interaction with environmental factors. DNA repair systems that protect the genome from deleterious endogenous and exogenous damage have been shown to significantly reduce activity. In particular, enzymes of the nucleotide excision repair pathway are suspected to be implicated in cancer. In this study bladder cancer which is viewed as a polygenic disease was investigated. The functional polymorphisms of four DNA repair genes, excision repair cross-complementing group 2 (ERCC2), Xeroderma Pigmentosum group C (XPC), and Xray repair cross-complementing groups 1 and 3 (XRCC1 and XRCC3) were analyzed. The studied population included 51 bladder cancer cases and 45 controls. The genotyping of six SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) was carried out on these populations with the MGB (Minor Groove Binder) probe technique which uses allelic discrimination with the Taqman method. The Gln allele of the XPC 939 polymorphism was found to be associated with an increase in bladder cancer risk.