Codon 249 P53 Gene Mutation Among Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients in Western Kenya

Alteration(s) on p53 gene adversely affects their regulatory functions resulting to cancers. To our
knowledge, no previous studies have analyzed mutation in codon 249 of p53 gene in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
patients in Kenyan population. In our study, we investigated for these mutations in HCC patients presenting with stage
one cancer in the Kenyan population.
A total of forty-six (46) stage one HCC patients and ten (10) controls were prospectively recruited from
Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), Kenya. DNA was extracted and purified from 200 uL aliquots of plasma
and PCR amplified then sequenced using p53 exon 7 forward and reverse primers. Codon 249 p53 gene mutation
detection and analysis were done using Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis v.6.0, Genetyx v.9.0 and Integrative
Genome Viewer v. 2.4.4. The male to female ratio for both patients and controls was 1:1. The age range for HCC patients
was from 25 to 67 years with a median of 42 years, and from 24 to 64 years with a median of 41 years for the controls.