Genes of non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) are very important in maintaining the stability of human genome. Some important NHEJ genes, such as XRCC4, Ku70 and Ku80, may play important roles in DNA repair. It is also reported that the risk of cancer will increase when some of these genes do not behave their complete function or expression. The association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on these genes of NHEJ and various cancers has already been reported by various laboratories. Therefore, the polymorphisms of the SNPs on these genes can affect the normal function of these genes, and further raise the risk of cancer.
Oral cancer, a common disease in Taiwan, is a very serious public threaten. Although the association between SNPs on Ku80 of NHEJ and oral cancer risk has already been studied, but these reports were all foreign populations, not Taiwanese population, thus it is necessary and urgent to investigate the involved of Ku80 polymorphisms in oral cancer.
It is popular that some of the Taiwanese have the habits of chewing betel nuts, which is reported to be closely-related to oral cancer risk. Among the SNPs we investigated in this research, we found that only the Ku80 G-1401T rs828907 was associated with oral cancer risk (p=0.038303), and this novel SNP of Ku80 may be very useful in early detection and prevention of oral cancer.
