Polymorphisms of 5’-UTR of rad51 gene in prostate cancer

Background . Notwithstanding that prostate cancer is largely studied all over the world for many decades, its etiology is not known and there is an intensive work to elucidate the cause and molecular markers for the development of this male cancer. Polymorphisms in DNA repairing genes may affect the DNA repairing capacity that in turn contributes to cancer development. This study aims to explore the polymorphisms of homologous recombination (HR) RAD51 gene (rs1801320 and rs1801321) as a possible risk factor for developing prostate cancer. Sequencing of 5'-UTR of RAD51 gene (rs1801320 and rs1801321) was studied in 80 DNA samples of prostate cancer and 50 DNA samples from a control group. Our results revealed a significant correlation between rs1801320 G>C polymorphism and the presence of prostate cancer in the Jordanian population (p = 0.041, X2 = 6.377). On the other hand, the rs1801321 G>T polymorphism was not associated with the presence of prostate cancer in the study population (p = 0.27, X2 = 2.6). In conclusion, our results shed a light on the possible role of RAD51 gene polymorphisms in the development of prostate cancer; however, a larger representative study is needed to elucidate a possible role of RAD51 gene polymorphisms in development and prognosis of prostate cancer.