MedWire News: Polymorphisms in the DNA damage response gene TP53 are associated with an increased risk for late skin complications following radiotherapy for breast cancer, a study suggests.
Radiotherapy following breast-conserving surgery is a common treatment for breast cancer, reducing the risk for local recurrence. However, telangiectasia and fibrosis are common late skin toxicities associated with this treatment.
The study was conducted by J Chang–Claude (German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany) and colleagues to investigate whether these side effects of radiation are associated with possible functional polymorphisms in eight genes involved in DNA repair and damage response. The results are published in the British Journal of Cancer.
The study participants included 409 breast cancer patients who received radiotherapy following breast-conserving surgery between 1998 and 2001, and for whom genotype data were available. In total, 131 patients developed telangiectasia, 28 developed fibrosis, and 21 patients had both side effects.
Polymorphisms in the TP53 gene were significantly associated with development of telangiectasia. Those patients with variants in the Arg72Pro or the PIN3 polymorphism were at increased risk compared with non-carriers, with corresponding odds ratios (OR) of 1.66 and 1.95, respectively.
Carriers of both the Arg72Pro and PIN3 polymorphism mutations had approximately a two-fold increased risk for developing telangiectasia compared with non-carriers (OR=1.97).
The authors conclude that “variants in the TP53 gene may therefore modify the risk for late skin toxicity after radiotherapy.”
They add: “Advances in the search for biomarkers of radiation-induced late skin side effects may lead to improved treatment choices for breast cancer patients, and improve cosmetic outcome as well as quality of life after surviving breast cancer.”
MedWire (www.medwire-news.md) is an independent clinical news service provided by Current Medicine Group, a part of Springer Science+Business Media. © Current Medicine Group Ltd; 2009
Free abstract
