Correlation between genetic variation in thymine DNA glycosylase and smoking behavior

Cigarette smoking is a major lifestyle factor leading to different human diseases. The DNA repair gene, thymine DNA glycosylase, is important to cell survival because it stops cells from becoming cancerous protecting/preventing DNA. Exposure to CS may induce genetic changes such as single nucleotide polymorphisms in DNA repair genes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the genotype and allele distributions of four TDG SNPs with only smoking behavior in normal patients. Four TDG SNPs-rs4135066 (C/T), rs3751209 (A/G), rs1866074 (C/T), and rs1882018 (C/T) were analyzed by genotyping 235 and 239 blood samples collected from cigarette smokers and non-smokers, among the Saudi population. The results showed that TDG rs4135066 has a significant susceptibility effect observed in long-term smokers ( > 5 years; OR = 4.53; P = 0.0347) but not in short-term smokers (<= 5 years) in contrast with non-smokers. Also, in smokers aged less than 29 years, the "CT," "TT," and "CT + TT" alleles of rs1882018 increased the risk of developing all diseases related to smoking by approximately 6, 4, and 5 times, respectively, in contrast with the ancestral "CC" homozygous allele. A comparison of the allele distributions of TDG SNPs in a Saudi population with those in other populations represented in the HapMap project showed that the genetic makeup of the Saudi Arabian population appears to differ from that of other ethnicities. Exceptions include the Yoruba people in Ibadan, Nigeria; those of Mexican ancestry in Los Angeles, California; the Luhya population in Webuye, Kenya; Gujarati Indians in Houston, Texas; and the Tuscan population in Italy, which showed similar allelic frequencies for rs3751209 compared to our Saudi population. In this ethnic, we have found a high variation in the distribution of the alleles and genotype frequencies on TDG gene. This variation on TDG SNP's with smoking could lead to increase the susceptibility to many diseases related to smoking habits in this population.