A functional polymorphism in XRCC1 gene is associated with lung cancer risk in a Korean population

Defects on DNA repair system are associated with carcinogenesis. It has been reported that a number of XRCC1 polymorphisms are related with lung cancer risk. We investigated the relationship between 5 potentially functional polymorphisms and lung cancer risk in a Korean population. In total, 610 lung cancer patients and 610 healthy controls were enrolled in this case-control study. Among 5 polymorphisms, the rs25489G>A was significantly associated with lung cancer risk (codominant model, odds ratio = 0.65, 95 % confidence interval = 0.49-0.87, P value = 0.003). When stratified according to smoking status, age, gender and tumor histology, the rs25489G>A was associated with lung cancer risk in never smoker, young age, female and adenocarcinoma ( P value = 0.004, 0.003. 0.001 and < 0.001, respectively). These findings suggest that the rs25489 of XRCC1 may contribute to genetic susceptibility to lung cancer.