Cervical cancer is the leading cause of
cancer-related death in Africa and the first most common
cancer in Gabonese women due to
infection of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV). However, other cofactors such as genetic factors also come into play. A common polymorphism of the p53
codon 72 in exon 4 with two alleles encoding
arginine or
proline is known at this locus. The homozygous
arginine form of this polymorphism has been associated with the development of
cervical cancer as an increased genetic risk factor. However, the results are still controversial. This study aims to investigate whether the genotype distribution of p53
codon 72 may be a risk factor for
cervical cancer among Gabonese women. Samples from 102 Gabonese women, 31 diagnosed with
cervical cancer and 71 healthy controls, were used. HPV detection was done by nested PCR with MY09/11 and GP5+/6+ primers followed by sequencing for HPV genotyping. p53
codon 72 polymorphism determination was performed by allele-specific PCR assay.
Viral DNA was detected in 87.1 % of cases and in 54.93 % of control. HPV 16 was the most predominant in
cancer and controls cases. The distribution of
Arg/Arg,
Arg/Pro and
Pro/Pro genotypes was 35.5, 51.6 and 12.9 % in the
cervical cancer group and 22.5, 62 and 15.5 % in the control group. No significant association was found between polymorphism of p53 itself as well as in combination with HPV16/18
infection and risk of development of
cervical cancer among Gabonese women. Thus, the polymorphism of p53
codon 72 in exon 4 does not seem to play a role in the development of
cervical cancer among Gabonese women.