RESUMO
Mitochondrial displacement loop (D-loop) is the hot spot for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) alterations which influence the generation of cellular reactive oxygen species. In the present study, we sequenced the entire mitochondrial D-loop region (1124 bp) of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients (n = 174) and controls (n = 170) of south Indian origin to identify significant mutations/polymorphisms. Our results showed 152 polymorphisms in the D-loop region of patients and/or controls. Polymorphisms were predominantly located in hypervariable region I (54.6%) than in II (45.4%) of D-loop region. The frequencies of 310'C' insertion (p = 0.0078), T16189C (p = 0.0097) variants and 310'C'ins/16189C haplotype (p = 0.0029) were significantly higher in cases than in controls. Furthermore, strong linkage disequilibrium was observed between nucleotide position 310 and 16189 in cases (D'=0.68) as compared with controls (D'=0.27). In conclusion, mitochondrial D-loop sequence alterations may constitute inherent risk factor for CRC.