Research Journal of Pharmacy and Technology

Lung cancer (LCa) is a multifactorial disease with exogenous and endogenous causes. Different variants in DNA repair gene, ERCC2, may influence individual's susceptibility to this disease. This study aims to assess the impact of two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ERCC2 gene (r rs1799787 and s1799788) on susceptibility to LCa in a sample of Iraqi patients. A total of 60 his to logically confirmed patients with LCa and 40 family-unrelated, age-and sex-matched healthy individuals as a control group were recruited for this study. DNA was isolated from blood samples and ERCC2 gene was amplified with specific primers using conventional PCR. Genotyping was performed by direct sequencing. The mutant homozygous genotype (TT) of rs1799787 polymorphism was more frequent in patients than controls (12.67% vs 2.5%) with significant difference (OR=2.45, 95%CI= 1.07–5.92, P=0.046). Model analysis revealed a significant effect of the recessive model where CT+TT genotype was significantly higher in patients than controls (58.33% vs 30%). Furthermore, the frequency of the mutant allele (T allele) was significantly higher in patients than controls (OR=2.775, 95%CI=1.375–5.603, P=0.004). On the other hand, the SNP rs1799788 appeared no to have any association with LCa. These results strongly suggested the role of rs1799787 polymorphism on the susceptibility to LCa among the Iraqi population.