p53 codon 72 polymorphism does not affect the risk of cervical cancer in patients from northern Italy

A case-control study was performed to investigate the risk of cervical canc er associated with p53 polymorphism at codon 72, encoding either arginine o r proline. It has been recently suggested that the arginine isoform increas es the susceptibility to invasive cervical cancer; however, data remain con troversial. The polymorphism was examined by both allele-specific PCR and R FLP analysis in 101 patients with primary cervical cancer and in 140 health y women of the same age and from the same geographical area. The distributi on of p53 genotypes in cervical cancer patients and in controls was not sig nificantly different (P = 0.435), and homozygosity for arginine at residue 72 was not associated with an increased risk for cervical cancer (odds rati o, 0.81; 95% confidence interval, 0.47-1.42; P = 0.52). Similarly, differen t genotype distribution and increased risk were not observed when patients versus controls were analyzed according to human papillomavirus status and cancer histotype. Therefore, no evidence of association between homozygosit y for p53 arginine and cervical cancer was found in our population sample.