A protective role for common p21(WAF1/Cip1) polymorphisms in human ovariancancer

The objective of this study was to compare the frequency of two common p21( WAF1/Cip1) gene polymorphisms in ovarian cancer patients with that in age-m atched controls, from a population originating from Eastern Scotland. Both polymorphisms were found significantly less frequently in both the constitu tive and tumour tissue DNA of ovarian cancer patients (3/65; 4.6%), than in that from geographically and age-matched controls (25/186; 13.4%) (p=0.049 5, chi(2)). Furthermore, we found no p21(WAF1/Cip1) gene mutations in any o f the tumours, reflected by a relatively low degree of loss of heterozygosi ty (LOH) at the chromosomal region where the gene maps, providing further e vidence that the p21(WAF1/Cip1) gene is not mutated in ovarian cancer. The data suggest however, that there may potentially be a protective function f or the two p21(WAF1/Cip1) gene polymorphisms in the population under study.