Genome instability and impaired DNA repair are hallmarks of carcinogenesis. The study was aimed at evaluating the DNA damage response in H2O2-treated lymphocytes using the alkaline comet assay in bladder cancer (BC) patients as compared to clinically healthy controls, elderly persons, and individuals with chronic inflammations. Polymorphism in DNA repair genes involved in nucleotide excision repair (NER) and base excision repair (BER) was studied using the PCR-RFLP method in the Belarusian population to elucidate the possible association of their variations with both bladder cancer risk and clinicopathological features of tumors. The increased level of H2O2-induced DNA damage and a higher proportion of individuals sensitive to oxidative stress were found among BC patients as compared to other groups under study. Heterozygosity in theXPDgene (codon 751) increased cancer risk: OR (95% CI) = 1.36 (1.03–1.81),p=0.031. The frequency of theXPD312Asn allele was significantly higher in T ≥ 2 high grade than in T ≥ 2 low grade tumorsp=0.036; theERCC61097Val/Val genotype was strongly associated with muscle-invasive tumors. Combinations of homozygous wild type alleles occurred with the increased frequency in patients with non-muscle-invasive tumors suggesting that the maintenance of normal DNA repair activity may prevent cancer progression.
Genetic polymorphisms in 85 DNA repair genes and bladder cancer risk