Analysis of XRCC1 Arg194Trp polymorphism and the risk of idiopathic male infertility

Background: X-ray Repair Cross Complementing group 1 (XRCC1) acts as a scaffolding protein in the converging base excision repair (BER) and single strand break repair (SSBR). XRCC1 gene polymorphisms are associated with variations in the repair efficiency which might predispose individuals to various diseases. The aim of this study was to explore the association between XRCC1 Arg194Trp polymorphism and idiopathic male infertility in Guilan province. Materials and Methods : 144 patients with idiopathic infertility and 166 healthy men were included in the study. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood. Genotypes were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Statistical analysis was performed using the MedCalc program. Results: According to the frequency of Arg/Arg in both patient and control groups was 89.58% and 87.35%, respectively and the frequency of Arg/Trp was 10.42% and 12.65%, respectively no significant difference in genotype frequencies polymorphisms of XRCC1 Arg194Trp was found between each groups (P=0.66). Also there was no statistically significant difference in allelic frequencies of this polymorphism among two groups (P=0.67). Conclusion: In Conclusion, XRCC1 Arg194Trp polymorphism was unlikely a risk factor of idiopathic male infertility in this sample population. Larger population and different ethnicities-based studies are required to achieved a definitive conclusion.