Screening for XPD312 polymorphisms in human oral cancer: a preliminary study

Xeroderma pigmentosum-D (XPD) is one of the genes that play a role in the Nucleotide-Excision Repair (NER). Polymorphisms in XPD gene have been identified and reported to be associated with many types of cancer with two common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), namely, XPD312 and XPD751. The XPD312 polymorphism is at exon 10 codon 312 Asp to Asn (A?G) and the association of this polymorphism with oral cancer is very little known, especially, in Malaysia. The aim of this study was to screen for XPD312 gene polymorphisms in human oral cancer patients attending Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM), Malaysia. Blood samples were collected from 10 oral cancer and 10 normal healthy subjects with their consent. DNA was extracted using commercial DNA extraction kit and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was performed to amplify the XPD312 gene. The PCR products were digested using restriction enzyme, Sty I and analyzed on a 3% agarose gel for the detection of polymorphisms. This was followed by DNA sequencing to confirm the findings. In the current study, only homozygous wild type polymorphisms in the XPD312 gene was noticed in the oral cancer tissues as revealed by the restriction enzyme and DNA sequencing analyses