Abstract
Background. DNA repair systems are essential for each cell to repair and maintain the genome integrity. Base excision repair pathway is one of the crucial pathways to maintain genome integrity and PARP-1 plays a key role in BER pathway. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the association between polymorphisms in PARP-1 3'untranslated region (3'UTR) SNP rs8679 and its expression in colorectal cancer. Methods. Genotyping and gene expression were performed using TaqMan assays. The effects of age, gender, and tumor location were evaluated in cases and controls regarding the genotyping results. Resulting data was analyzed using SPSS software. Results and Conclusions. Genotyping analysis for SNP rs8679 showed decreased susceptibility to colorectal cancer at heterozygous TC allele and at minor allele C. Further this protective association was also observed in younger age patients (<= 57), in female patients, and also in patients with tumors located at colon and rectum. PARP-1 expression levels are significantly different in colorectal cancer compared to matched normal tissue. Our findings proved that the upregulation of PARP-1 is associated with tumor progression and poor prognosis in Saudi patients with colorectal cancer, suggesting that PARP-1 can be novel and valuable signatures for predicting the clinical outcome of patients with colorectal cancer.