Genetic polymorphism in hOGG1 is associated with triple-negative breast cancer risk in Chinese Han women

8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanine (8-OHdG), a typical product of oxidative stress-induced DNA damage, can cause a G–T transversion during DNA replication if it is not removed. Human 8-oxoguanine glycosylase 1 (hOGG1), a key DNA repair gene, recognizes and excises 8-OHdG from damaged DNA accurately; however, a c.977C>G (Ser326Cys) polymorphism in hOGG1 can inhibit the gene's ability to remove 8-OHdG. The aim of present study was to investigate the association between the c.977C>G polymorphism in hOGG1 and the risk of breast cancer in Chinese Han women. We used high-resolution melting and sequencing to analyze the genotypes of 630 patients with sporadic breast cancer patients and 777 healthy controls. We also performed risk-stratified subgroup analyses to determine the association between the c.977C>G polymorphism and other characteristics of breast cancer subgroups. Breast cancer patients and healthy controls did not have significantly different of c.977C/G genotypes (odds ratio OR] = 1.10, 95% confidence interval CI] = 0.82–1.49, p = 0.57) and c.977G/G genotypes (OR = 1.34, 95% CI = 0.97–1.84, p = 0.09). However, the c.977G/G genotype was especially prevalent in breast cancer patients who were younger than 55 years (OR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.05–2.39, p = 0.04), were premenopausal status (OR = 1.87, 95% CI = 1.14–3.06, p = 0.02), had triple-negative disease (OR = 2.14, 95% CI = 1.06–4.29, p = 0.04), or p53-positive disease (OR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.14–2.12, p = 0.005). These findings suggest that the c.977C>G polymorphism in hOGG1 is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in Chinese Han women who are younger than 55 years, premenopausal, triple-negative, or p53-positive subgroups.