study of DNA methyltransferase-3B promoter variant genotype among Iranian sporadic breast cancer patients

Background: DNA methyltransferase-3B [DNMT3B] is an important enzyme responsible for maintaining the DNA methylation pattern in eukaryotic cells. In this study we have investigated the correlation between the 46359C[rightwards arrow]T polymorphism in the DNMT3B gene and the risk of breast cancer incidence among sporadic breast cancer patients in Fars Province, Southern Iran

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Methods: In this case-control study, 100 breast cancer patients and 138 healthy control subjects were genotyped for the DNMT3B gene by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method

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Results: The genotype frequency in the case [CC 27%, CT 47%, TT 26%] group significantly [P=0.008] differed from the control [CC 19.56%, CT 67.3%, TT 13%] group. We observed a decreased association between the CT genotype and lymph node involvement in breast cancer patients. Our results have shown that in comparison to the homozygous CC genotype carriers the DNMT3B-CT genotype has a significantly lower risk for breast cancer [OR=0.515, 95% CI=0.267-0.994, P=0.048]

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Conclusion: Our case-control study showed that the CT genotype was significantly associated with decreased breast cancer risk. Consistent with these results, a significant decrease of CT genotype among lymph node positive breast cancer patients was observed. However, a larger study population with more clinical data is needed to confirm these results