Background/aim Chronic inflammation generates large quantities of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species that damage DNA. DNA repair is important for cellular viability and genome integrity. Materials and methods Expression levels of the DNA repair proteins OGG1, XPA, MLH1, PARP1, and XRCC6, which function in base excision repair, nucleotide excision repair, mismatch repair, single-strand break repair and double-strand break repair, respectively, were assessed using immunohistochemistry in ulcerative colitis and sporadic colorectal cancer biopsies. Levels of oxidative/ nitrosative stress biomarkers were also assessed. Results Ulcerative colitis and colorectal cancer lesions expressed significantly higher levels of all DNA repair proteins and oxidative/ nitrosative stress biomarkers compared to normal colonic mucosa. Ulcerative colitis had the highest XPA and XRCC6 expression. Conclusion Oxidative/nitrosative stress is prevalent in the colon of both diseases. Nucleotide excision repair and non-homologous end-joining double-strand break repair may be compromised in colorectal cancer, but not in ulcerative colitis.
