Background/Aims: In mammalian cells, XRCC3 plays an important role in the DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) repair by homologous recombination. Genetic polymorphisms in XRCC3 gene may potentially affect the repair of DSBs and thus confer susceptibility to thyroid cancer. In this study, we used a haplotype-based approach to investigate whether 5 selected SNPs i.e. rs1799796, rs1799794, rs861539, rs709399 and rs861530 of XRCC3 gene are associated with thyroid cancer risk in 456 cancer patients and 400 cancer-free controls. Methods: Genotyping was performed using Allele-specific PCR followed by sequencing. Statistical analysis was performed to analyse gene and haplotype association. Results: After analysis, frequency of mutant genotype/alleles of SNPs (rs1799796, p<0.0001; rs1799794, p<0.0001; rs861539, p<0.001; rs709399, p <0.0001; rs861530, p<0.002) was found significantly higher in thyroid cancer patients compared to controls. Significant associations were found for most of the variant genotypes in SNPs of rs1799794, rs1799796, rs861539, rs861530 and rs709399 in papillary thyroid and follicular cancer patients compared to other histologic subtypes of thyroid carcinoma. Additionally, haplotype analysis revealed that haplotypes, AACGA (p= 0.0005), AGTAA (p= 0.008), GATAA (p= 0.001), GGCAA (p= 0.001) were linked with significant increase in thyroid cancer risk. However, haplotype AGCGG (p= 0.0009) was associated with a significant reduced thyroid cancer risk. Conclusion: Our results suggest that common genetic variants in the XRCC3 gene of DSBR pathway may modulate thyroid cancer risk.

Polymorphisms in DNA repair genes may alter the repair mechanism which makes the person susceptible to DNA damage. Polymorphic variants in these DNA repair pathway genes such as Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase- 1 (PARP1) have been associated with susceptibility of several types of cancer including thyroid. Many studies have been published on PARP1 gene polymorphisms and carcinogenesis with inconsistent results. The present study was designed to explore the link between the PARP1 polymorphisms and thyroid cancer risk. This case-control study was comprised of 456 thyroid cancer patients and 400 healthy controls. Three SNPs of PARP1 gene; rs1136410, rs1805414 and rs1805404 were analyzed using ARMS-PCR. The combined genotype and haplotype analysis were performed using haploview software 4.2. Major allele homozygote (CC) of rs1136410 and combined genotype (TT+TC) of rs180414 showed a significant association with thyroid cancer risk (OR = 1.30; 95% CI 0.99–1.77; P = 0.05) and (OR = 0.43; 95% CI = 0.27–0.67; P = 0.03). Histological subtype analysis showed the significant association of selected PARP1 SNPs with papillary, follicular and anaplastic subtypes in thyroid cancer patients. Haplotype analysis showed that TCT (p = 0.01), CTT (p = 0.02) and CTC (p = 0.03) were significantly higher in controls when compared to cases. However, TTC (p = 0.05) and TCC (p = 0.01) haplotype frequency was significantly higher in cases compared to controls. Global haplotype analysis showed that there was an overall significant difference between cases and controls (p = 0.001). Identification of these genetic risk markers may provide evidence for exploring insight into mechanisms of pathogenesis and subsequently aid in developing novel therapeutic strategies for thyroid cancer.

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We aimed to investigate the effect of hotspot variations of XRCC2 gene on the risk of head and neck cancer (HNC) in 400 patients and 400 controls. Five polymorphisms of XRCC2 gene G4234C (rs3218384), G4088T (rs3218373), G3063A (rs2040639), R188H (rs3218536) and rs7802034 were analyzed using Allele- specific polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR) followed by sequence analysis. For rs3218373, the GG genotype indicated a statistically significant 3-fold increased risk of HNC (P < 0.001) after multivariate adjustment. For rs7802034, the GG genotype suggested statistically significant 2-fold increased risk of HNC (P < 0.001). For SNP of rs3218536, the AA genotype indicated a significant 3-fold increased risk of HNC (P < 0.001). Additionally, haplotype analysis revealed that TACAG, TGGAG, TACGG and TAGGA haplotypes of XRCC2 polymorphisms are associated with HNC risk. Two SNPs in XRCC2 (rs2040639 and rs3218384) were found increased in strong linkage disequilibrium. Furthermore, joint effect model showed 20 fold (OR = 19.89; 95% CI = 2.65–149.36, P = 0.003) increased HNC risk in patients carrying four homozygous risk alleles of selected polymorphisms. These results show that allele distributions and genotypes of XRCC2 SNPs are significantly associated with increased HNC risk and could be a genetic adjuster for the said disease.