Abstract
X-ray repair cross complementary group gene is one of the most studied candidate
gene involved in different types of cancers. Studies have shown that X-ray
repair cross complementary genes are significantly associated with increased
risk of breast cancer in females. Moreover, studies have revealed that X-ray
repair cross complementary gene polymorphism significantly varies between and
within different ethnic groups globally. The present case–control study was
aimed to investigate the association of X-ray repair cross complementary 1A
(Arg194Trp) and X-ray repair cross complementary 3 (Thr241Met) polymorphism with
the risk of breast cancer in females from northeastern region of India. The
present case–control study includes histopathologically confirmed and newly
diagnosed 464 cases with breast cancer and 534 apparently healthy neighborhood
community controls. Information on sociodemographic factors and putative risk
factors were collected from each study participant by conducting face-to-face
interviews. Genotyping of X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) and
X-ray repair cross complementary 3 (Thr241Met) was carried out by polymerase
chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. For statistical
analysis, both univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were
performed. We also performed stratified analysis to find out the association of
X-ray repair cross complementary genes with the risk of breast cancer stratified
based on menstrual status. This study revealed that tryptophan allele (R/W-W/W
genotype) in X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) gene significantly
increased the risk of breast cancer (adjusted odds ratio = 1.44, 95% confidence
interval = 1.06-1.97,
Keywords
Introduction
Studies have shown that defect in DNA repair mechanism is significantly associated
with the increased risk of breast cancer (BC) in females.
29
Molecular epidemiological studies have been carried out globally to
investigate the association of DNA repair mechanism genes with the risk of BC in
females from different ethnicity.
30
Studies have revealed that polymorphisms in
In India, BC is an emerging public health concern.
42
Thus, identification of epidemiological and genetic factors significantly
associated with the increased or decreased risk of BC in females from different
ethnic groups of India is at utmost need to combat this disease at the earliest.
43
In recent years, Population Based Cancer Registry (PBCR) data of India have
reported high number of BC cases in females from northeast (NE) region of India.
43,44
The PBCR data have shown incidence of BC in females of NE region varies from
7.2 per 100 000 populations in Tripura to 30 per 100 000 populations in Aizawl and
Kamrup districts.
43
Molecular epidemiological studies have revealed that mutations and/or
polymorphisms in tumor suppressor genes, DNA repair mechanism genes, and innate
immune pathway genes are significantly associated with the increased risk of BC in
females from NE region of India.
45,46
Our earlier study has found that 22-base pair deletion in promoter region of
Materials and Methods
Ethics Statement
This study has been approved by the institutional ethics committee of Regional Medical Research Centre, Indian Council of Medical Research–NE Region, Dibrugarh, Assam (RMRC/Dib/IEC(Human)/2008-09/3243 dated February 19, 2009). All the participants, both cases and controls, provided their written informed consent to be included in this study.
Study Participants and Specimen Collection
This case–control study, conducted from 2010 to 2014, included females from 4 states of NE region of India, namely, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura. All 464 BC cases were confirmed by histopathological analysis and all were newly diagnosed. Patients with severe clinical symptoms, patients with recurrent cancer, patients too old to be interviewed, and patients refused to be interviewed were excluded from this study. Five hundred thirty-four neighborhood controls, that is, apparently healthy female participants, were selected by organizing community surveys from the neighborhood of cases. Exclusion criteria for selecting controls were females not willing to participate in the study or having any other type of disease or have undergone blood transfusion in the last 1 year. Information on sociodemographic factors, anthropogenic measurements, and other putative risk factors was collected from the cases and controls by face-to-face interviews, and information gathered was recorded in a predesigned questionnaire. Peripheral whole blood was collected from each study participant in EDTA-containing vials and stored at −80C until analyzed. Breast tissue biopsy samples were immediately fixed in neutral-buffered formalin and kept for 48 hours. Subsequently, the fixed breast tissue samples were thoroughly washed in 70% ethanol, dehydrated in graded series of ethanol, cleaned in xylene, and embedded in paraplast (Sigma St. Louis, MO, USA) for further histological and immunohistochemical analyses.
Genotyping of XRCC1A (Arg194Trp) and XRCC3 (Thr241Met) Polymorphisms
Isolation of DNA for genotyping was carried out by using Qiagen DNeasy(R) Blood
kit, and amplification and identification of
Statistical Analysis
Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed by using
SPSS version 17.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Illinois). A
Results
Patient Characteristics
The study comprised of 464 histopathologically confirmed newly diagnosed BC cases and 534 apparently healthy neighborhood community control samples collected from adjacent regions from where cases were obtained. Demographic features of both cases and controls are presented in Table 1.
Demographic Features of Study Population.
Abbreviations: BC, breast cancer; SD, standard deviation.
Test for HWE
Before carrying out association studies with genotypic data, control results were
tested for HWE. Both
Association of XRCC1A (Arg194Trp) Polymorphisms With the Risk of BC in Females From NE Region of India
To investigate the association of
Association of
Abbreviations: AOR, adjusted OR, adjusted for age, region, marital
status, menopausal status, betel nut chewing, tobacco smoking,
alcohol consumption, dry fish, dry meat, and bamboo shoots
consumption habit; CI, confidence interval; NE, northeast; OR, odds
ratio; R, arginine; W, tryptophan; XRCC,
aStatistically significant at
Moreover, to find out the association of
Association of
Abbreviations: AOR, adjusted OR, adjusted for age, region, marital
status, menopausal status, betel nut chewing, tobacco smoking,
alcohol consumption, dry fish, dry meat, and bamboo shoots
consumption habit; CI, confidence interval; NE, northeast; OR, odds
ratio; R, arginine; W, tryptophan; XRCC,
aStatistically significant at
Association of XRCC3 (Thr241Met) Polymorphism With Risk of BC in Females From NE Region, India
To investigate the association of
Association of
Abbreviations: AOR, adjusted OR, adjusted for age, region, marital
status, menopausal status, betel nut chewing, tobacco smoking,
alcohol consumption, dry fish, dry meat and bamboo shoots
consumption habit; CI, confidence interval; M, methionine; NE,
northeast; OR, odds ratio; T, threonine; XRCC,
aStatistically significant at
Moreover, to find out the association of
Association of
Abbreviations: AOR, adjusted OR, adjusted for age, region, marital
status, menopausal status, betel nut chewing, tobacco smoking,
alcohol consumption, dry fish, dry meat and bamboo shoots
consumption habit; CI, confidence interval; M, methionine; NE,
northeast; OR, odds ratio; T, threonine; XRCC,
aStatistically significant at
Discussion
Epidemiological studies have shown that reproductive status of females is significantly associated with the risk of BC. 51 Endocrinological studies have revealed that alternations from male to female sex hormone ratio, that is, from androgen to estrogen conversion, high rate of androgen biosynthesis, and low circulatory estrogen level, are significantly associated with the increased risk of BC in females at different menstrual phase. 52 It has been found that high concentration of circulating estradiol is significantly protective in the onset of BC. 53 However, both clinical and epidemiological studies did not reveal yet how low estrogen synthesis promotes early onset of BC in premenopausal females. 54 It is postulated that genetic alternation in metabolic and/or inflammatory genes, tumor suppressor genes, and DNA repair mechanism genes in tumor microenvironment of breast may be important determinant to develop BC in females. 51,54
Studies have shown that reproductive factors and food habit significantly increased
the risk of BC in females by modulating cellular oxidative stress.
55
Molecular epidemiological studies have shown that polymorphisms in DNA repair
pathway-associated genes may produce altered protein product which can modulate
tumorigenesis and its transformation toward carcinogenesis in breast tissue.
56
Studies from NE region of India have shown that reproductive status and food
habits are significantly associated with the increased risk of BC in females in this region.
57
Moreover, epidemiological studies have shown that betel nut chewing
significantly increase the risk of BC in females from NE region.
46
Biochemical studies have revealed that betel nuts are mainly composed of
different types of alkaloids, such as arecoline, arecaidine, guvacine, and
guvacoline, which effectively bind with the DNA after being nitrated and may produce
DNA adducts
58
and thus significantly associated with the increased risk of BC in females.
59,60
Molecular epidemiological studies have postulated that tobacco smoke–derived
carcinogens can modulate the expression of DNA repair mechanism pathway genes.
30
Experimental studies have suggested that tobacco smoke contain polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), aromatic amines, and nitrosamines which cross the
alveolar membrane in the lung tissue and after conjugation with lipoproteins carried
to the breast epithelium via circulation,
61
where these carcinogenic chemicals induce DNA adducts.
62
Epidemiological studies have shown significant association between smoking
and the increased risk of BC among postmenopausal females.
33
Similarly, studies have shown that ethanol consumption significantly
stimulates the cell proliferation by altering the expression of transcription
factors associated with the ER signaling pathway in females.
63,64
Biochemical studies have shown that heterocyclic amines present in dried fish
and fried meat act as strong carcinogens.
65
In NE region of India, people from different ethnic groups consume dry fish
and dry meat either regularly or occasionally.
66
Studies have shown that dry fish and dry meat consumption significantly
associated with the increased risk of cancers in NE region.
67
Keeping these in view, it is hypothesized that betel nut chewing, tobacco
smoking and/or chewing, alcohol, dry fish, and dry meat consumption act as putative
risk factors for tumorigenesis in females from NE region of India.
68
In the present study, to investigate the association of
Molecular epidemiological studies have shown that

Association of XRCC1A (Arg194Trp) polymorphism with the increased risk of breast cancer (BC) and its comparison with our present case–control study. Comparative analysis of association between XRCC1A (Arg194Trp) polymorphism and the risk of BC in different ethnic populations globally.

Association of XRCC3 (Thr241Met) polymorphism with the increased risk of breast cancer (BC) and its comparison with our present case–control study. Comparative analysis of association between XRCC3 (Thr241Met) polymorphism and the risk of BC in different ethnic populations globally.
In the present case–control study, we did not perform follow-up study of patients
with BC to investigate the association of
Conclusion
The present study has revealed that
Footnotes
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank all study participants for their cooperation.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India.
