Glutathione S-transferase M1 and T1 gene polymorphism in patients with lung cancer among Turkish population

Several polymorphic genes including those encoding for glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) have been reported to be associated with development of specific cancers. Individual variations in the expression of these enzymes have been extensively studied. In this study, the implication of two GST genes (GSTM1 and GSTT1) in the development of different types of lung cancer was investigated in Turkish patients (N=44). Our results show a 72.3% allele frequency, for null GSTM1 gene among lung cancer patients and for healthy individuals (N=100) it was found to be 34%. The GSTM1 null genotype is slightly over represented in lung cancer patients (OR=0.73; CI=0.33-1.59) but did not reach a statistical importance. The frequency of deleted GSM1 allele was 19% in normal controls that is consistent with the previous results for Caucasians. GSTT1 null genotype frequency among lung cancer patients (20.5%) was very Close to the control group (OR=0.91, CI=0.38-2.21). In all lung cancer cases 13.6% of the patients showed homozygous deletion of both GSTM1 and GSTT1 gene and in control group 10% of the individuals had both deletion (p=0.08) suggesting that null GSTM1 and GSTT1 genotypes do not interact to potentiate the risk of lung cancers in Turkish patients.