Cancer susceptibility and caspase 8 gene varient in local Iraqi population

Abstract EN

Background : Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women.

The incidence of breast cancer varies greatly around the world.

Apoptosis occurs naturally at several stages of breast development.

The gene caspase-8 (CASP8) plays a key role in the initiation of apoptosis.

Suppression of apoptosis is one of the major mechanisms underlying the origin and progression of cancer.

One variant in the CASP8 gene, D302H (rs1045485), has been confirmed to be associated with a reduced breast cancer risk.

Aim : To illustrate the role of the CASP8 gene variant with respect to breast cancer susceptibility.

According to our knowledge, there is no previous association study concerning CASP8 gene variant (D302H) and breast cancer has been conducted in Iraq.

So the frequency of this gene variant and its clinical impact on breast cancer was studied for the first time among Babylonian population.

Materials and methods : A genetic analysis was performed as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) to tag the D302H variant in four groups of Babylonian populations, including patients with breast cancer, healthy control people, first degree relatives, and patients with benign breast tumors.

Results : CASP8, D303H variant was shown to have a high degree of correlation with healthy control subjects in the present study in comparison with breast cancer patients.

The presence of CASP8, D302H polymorphism not only diminishes the high risk of breast cancer, but also delays the onset of breast cancer until late age.

Conclusions : The CASP8 D302H polymorphism decreases the breast cancer risk and delays the onset of the disease.