The point mutation of p53 gene exon7 in hepatocellular carcinoma from Anhui Province, a non HCC prevalent area in China

AIM: In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prevalent areas ofChina, the point mutation of p53 exon7 is highly correlatedwith Hepatitis B virus(HBV) infection and aflatoxin B intake.While in non-HCC-prevalent areas of China, these factorsare not so important in the etiology of HCC. Therefore, thepoint mutation of p.53 exon7 may also be different than thatin HCC-prevalent areas of China. The aim of this study is toinvestigate the status and carcinogenic role of the pointmutation of p53 gene exon7 in hepatocellular carcinoma fromAnhui Province, a non-HCC-prevalent area in China.METHODS: PCR,PCR-SSCP and PCR-RFLP were applied toanalyze the homozygous deletion and point mutation of p53exon7 in HCC samples from Anhui, which were confirmedby DNA sequencing and Genbank comparison.RESULTS: In the 38 samples of hepatocellular carcinoma, nohomozygous deletion of p53 exon7 was detected and pointmutations of p53 exon7 were found in 4 cases, which werefound to be heterozygous mutation of codon 249 With amutation rate of 10.53 %(4/38). The third base mutstion(G→T) of p53 codon 249 was found by DNA sequencing andGenbank comparison.CONCLUSION: The incidence of point mutation of p53 codon249 is lower in hepatocellular carcinoma and theheterozygous mutation of p53 exon7 found in these patientsonly indicate that they have genetic susceptibility to HCC.p53 codon 249 is a hotspot of p53 exon7 point mutation,suggesting that the point mutation of p53 exon 7 may notplay a major role in the carcinogenesis of HCC in AnhuiProvince, a non-HCC-prsvalent area in China.