(AC) dinucleotide repeat polymorphism in intron 1 of human EGFR shows ethnic specificities and high evidence for association with breast cancer

• Published in: The International journal of biological markers Vol. 22; no. 4; pp. 258 - 264
• Main Authors: KHARRAT, N, AL'FADHLI, S, REBAI, M, AIFA, M. S, KALLEL, I, KHABIR, A, SELLAMI-BOUDAWARA, T, FRIKHA, M, REBAI, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Milano Wichtig 01.10.2007
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analytical, structural and metabolic biochemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Breast Neoplasms - ethnology; Breast Neoplasms - genetics; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Child; Child, Preschool; Dinucleotide Repeats; Ethnic Groups; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes, erbB-1; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Humans; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor - genetics; Tunisia; Africa; High; Human; Ethnic origin; Genetic variability; Genotype; Biochemistry; Breast cancer; Malignant tumor; Ethnic group; Epidermal growth factor receptor; EGFR; Mammary gland diseases; Tunisian; Specificity; Association; Intron; Microsatellite DNA; Clinical biology; AC repeat; Molecular biology; Kuwaiti; Cancer; Polymorphism
• ISSN: 0393-6155; 1724-6008
• DOI: 10.1177/172460080702200404

A polymorphic AC repeat in intron 1 of the EGFR gene was genotyped on 352 healthy individuals and 118 women with breast cancer sampled from the Kuwaiti and Tunisian populations. We compared allele frequencies in these populations with published data on various ethnic groups. We found very close similarity between Tunisian and Kuwaiti populations for both allelic and genotypic frequencies and in both control and patient groups. Our analysis revealed clear interethnic differences between populations; in Europeans, allele 16 occurred predominantly, whereas in Tunisia and Kuwait allele 17 was the most frequent and allele 20 predominated in Asians. One hundred twenty-three healthy women, matched with the 118 breast cancer patients, were used as controls to test for associations between AC repeat and cancer risk. Strong evidence for such an association was found for allele 18 when considered alone (chi2=27.04, corrected p=0.0000016, OR=3.94) or with longer alleles (>17 repeats) (chi2=20.21, p=0.0005, OR=2.30). This contrasts with Asian populations where allele 16 was identified as the risk allele, showing allele heterogeneity depending on ethnicity.