Abstract
In Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of specific DNA repair genes have been identified to have an important role in the risk of HL. Consequently, they may also serve an important role in HL prognosis and disease outcome. The present study aimed to define an SNP molecular profile, based on DNA repair genes mutations, as predictive biomarkers for the prognostic outcome of patients with Classical HL (CHL) in Saudi Arabia. Genotyping of selected SNPs located in selected DNA repair genes was performed on 100 CHL cases and an equivalent number of healthy controls. No significant associations between CHL disease relapse (DR) or overall survival (OS) and 4 DNA repair genes were observed, with the exception of xeroderma pigmentosum, complementation group G (XPG) repair gene SNP (rs17655), which revealed a statistically significant association with CHL patient survival (P=0.036). Accordingly, these data suggest that the XPG gene may be a useful predictive molecular genetic biomarker for CHL clinical outcome. The present study also provided valuable insights on the contribution of DNA repair genes in Saudi patients with CHL. To the best of our knowledge, we defined for the first time, a specific genetic pattern associated with CHL outcome was defined in the present study in Saudi patients.