Assessment of HER1 (rs11543848) and HER2 (rs1136201) polymorphism and their association with colorectal cancer susceptibility in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a widespread malignancy characterized by uncontrolled growth in the colon or rectum and remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality globally. Various genes polymorphisms have been linked with the risk of CRC, but our study aimed to investigate the association between HER1 (rs11543848) and HER2 (rs1136201) polymorphisms with the risk of CRC in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) population of Pakistan. The association of the selected polymorphisms (rs11543848 and rs1136201) with CRC risk has been investigated in various ethnic groups, but their impact remains unexplored in Pakistan, particularly within the KPK population, highlighting the need of the study in this region. METHODS: In this study 120 CRC patients and 120 healthy controls were enrolled. The DNA was extracted from the blood by salting-out method and genotyping was done using ARMS-PCR. RESULTS: Our investigations provided convincing evidence of a strong association between HER1 (rs11543848) and the risk of CRC. Both the genotypes heterozygous GA (OR = 2.07, CI = 1.18 to 3.64, P = 0.01) and homozygous AA (OR = 6.22, CI = 2.56 to 15.08, P = 0.0001) showed higher risk and significant association with the CRC risk. Similarly, heterozygous genotype AG of HER2 (rs1136201) was significantly associated (OR = 3.16, 95% CI = 1.78 to 5.58, P = 0.0001) while mutant genotype GG showed higher risk but non-significant association (OR = 3.23, 95% CI = 0.84 to 12.43, P = 0.08) with CRC patients. HER1 (rs11543848) demonstrated a significant association (P = 0.003) with the age at diagnosis in CRC patients, while HER2 (rs1136201) showed a non-significant association (P = 0.434). Both the SNPs were non-significantly associated with gender (P = 0.793 and 0.117), metastasis (P = 0.582 and 0.129), location of the tumor (P = 0.555 and 0.993), tumor grade (P = 0.290 and 0.920), tumor size (P = 0.535 and 0.289) and stages of cancer (P = 0.892 and 0.352). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, both the polymorphisms rs11543848 and rs1136201 displayed susceptibility with CRC in the KPK population. However, further investigations are recommended while using whole exome sequencing on a larger sample size for more precise results.