Evaluation of XRCC1, Interleukin-8, and Bcl-2 gene expression in gastric cancer patients

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the deadliest tumor’s due to its competence to invade and metastasize. Multiple genetic and epigenetic alterations are implicated in gastric carcinogenesis. In addition, this disease is mostly diagnosed at a late stage. The DNA repair gene x-ray repair cross-complementing protein (XRCC1), Cytokine Interleukin-8 (IL-8) gene, and anti-apoptotic B-cell lymphoma (Bcl-2) gene perform a crucial role in the development and progression of GC. This study aimed to evaluate the expression of these target genes in GC patients in the Kurdistan region of Iraq (KRG). Gastric cancer tissues were taken from 29 patients that were diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinoma that underwent gastric resection and 21 tissue samples were taken from healthy patients that underwent
gastroscopy. The gastric tissues were collected in different hospitals in Erbil- and Sulaymaniyah city in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and stored at -80 ֯C for molecular purposes. Data regarding the Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, age, and gender of the gastric patients with their stage of the disease were recorded and analyzed using GraphPad Prism. The gene expression levels of XRCC1, IL8, and Bcl-2 from gastric tissue were studied by quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR). The result showed that H. pylori infection was equally distributed among males and females in the tissues of gastric patients, while most of the H.pylori-negative patients were females. It is also found that gastric patients between 30-60 years old were more commonly positive tested for the H. pylori test. Furthermore, in this study patients diagnosed with gastric inflammation were more often tested positive for H. pylori, while patients diagnosed with gastric cancer were all negative tested for this infection. Additionally, it was found that the target genes (XRCC1, IL-8, and Bcl-2) were significantly upregulated in GC patients compared to the healthy group. Taking together, our result revealed that XRCC1, IL-8, and Bcl-2 were upregulated in gastric cancer patients compared to the healthy control group. This may indicate that these target genes could play role in gastric carcinogenesis and therefore, targeting XRCC1, IL-8, and Bcl-2 genes might be an interesting field and promising strategy for cancer treatment.