Identification and Functional Testing of ERCC2 Mutations in a Multi-national Cohort of Patients with Familial Breast- and Ovarian Cancer
PLOS GENETICS
Authors: Rump, Andreas; Benet-Pages, Anna; Schubert, Steffen; Kuhlmann, Jan Dominik; Janavicius, Ramunas; Machackova, Eva; Foretov, Lenka; Kleibl, Zdenek; Lhota, Filip; Zemankova, Petra; Betcheva-Krajcir, Elitza; Mackenroth, Luisa; Hackmann, Karl; Lehmann, Janin; Nissen, Anke; DiDonato, Nataliya; Opitz, Romy; Thiele, Holger; Kast, Karin; Wimberger, Pauline; Holinski-Feder, Elke; Emmert, Steffen; Schroeck, Evelin; Klink, Barbara
Abstract
The increasing application of gene panels for familial cancer susceptibility disorders will probably lead to an increased proposal of susceptibility gene candidates. Using ERCC2 DNA repair gene as an example, we show that proof of a possible role in cancer susceptibility requires a detailed dissection and characterization of the underlying mutations for genes with diverse cellular functions (in this case mainly DNA repair and basic cellular transcription). In case of ERCC2, panel sequencing of 1345 index cases from 587 German, 405 Lithuanian and 353 Czech families with breast and ovarian cancer (BC/OC) predisposition revealed 25 mutations (3 frameshift, 2 splice-affecting, 20 missense), all absent or very rare in the ExAC database. While 16 mutations were unique, 9 mutations showed up repeatedly with population-specific appearance. Ten out of eleven mutations that were tested exemplarily in cell-based functional assays exert diminished excision repair efficiency and/or decreased transcriptional activation capability. In order to provide evidence for BC/OC predisposition, we performed familial segregation analyses and screened ethnically matching controls. However, unlike the recently published RECQL example, none of our recurrent ERCC2 mutations showed convincing co-segregation with BC/OC or significant
SNPs in ERCC1, ERCC2, and XRCC1 genes of the DNA repair pathway and risk of male infertility in the Asian populations: association study, meta-analysis, and trial sequential analysis
JOURNAL OF ASSISTED REPRODUCTION AND GENETICS
Authors: Singh, Vertika; Bansal, Sandeep Kumar; Sudhakar, D. V. S.; Neelabh; Chakraborty, Arijit; Trivedi, Sameer; Gupta, Gopal; Thangaraj, Kumarasamy; Rajender, Singh; Singh, Kiran
Abstract
PurposeWe investigated if substitutions in the ERCC1, ERCC2, and XRCC1 genes of the DNA repair pathway correlate with non-obstructive azoospermia and male infertility.MethodsA total of 548 azoospermic infertile males and 410 fertile controls were genotyped for XRCC1 399A>G, 280G>A, and ERCC1 C>A 3 UTR and 541 azoospermic infertile males and 416 fertile controls were genotyped for ERCC2 751A>C using iPLEX Gold Assay. Meta-analyses were performed on XRCC1 399A>G (1022 cases and 1004 controls), ERCC1 C>A 3 UTR (879 cases and 1059 controls), and ERCC2 751A>C (914 cases and 850 controls) polymorphisms to quantitatively estimate the significance of the association between these polymorphisms and the risk of infertility.ResultsStatistically significant association between ERCC2 751A>C SNP and male infertility was found using the codominant model (p=0.03). Results of meta-analysis suggested a lack of correlation with male infertility risk, which could be due to pooling of studies from different ethnic populations. Due to limited the number of studies, a stratified analysis for different ethnic groups could not be performed.Conclusion (s)In conclusion, AA genotype of 751A>C SNP in ERCC2 correlated with a higher risk of male infertility and may contribute to an increased risk of azoospermia and male infertility in Indian men.