Antaxia-telangiectasia mutated gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to chromosomal damage among polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons exposed workers

The aim was to explore the relationship between the ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to cytokinesis-block micronucleus among workers exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Blood and urine samples of 140 PAH-exposed workers and 66 non-PAH-exposed workers were collected. Seven tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms in ATM gene were selected by pariwise r2 method and minor allele frequency cutoff of 0.05 from Chinese genotype data in HapMap project. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to analyze the polymorphisms of ATM rs600931, rs652311, rs227060, rs227292, rs624366, rs189037 and rs228589. The results showed that ATM rs600931 AG and AG+AA genotypes exhibited significantly higher cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CBMN) frequency (11.14 ± 6.91‰ and 10.57 ± 6.82‰) than did the GG genotype (7.66 ± 5.69‰, P = 0.015 and 0.038, respectively). The subjects with rs189037 GA and GA+AA genotypes exhibited significantly higher CBMN frequency (10.99 ± 6.90‰ and 10.51 ± 6.76‰) than that of the GG genotype (7.72 ± 5.82‰, P = 0.018 and 0.035, respectively). The PAH-exposed workers with rs624366 GC and GC+CC genotypes exhibited significantly higher CBMN frequency (11.34 ± 6.74‰ and 10.73 ± 6.62‰) than did the GG genotype (7.61 ± 6.07‰, P = 0.001 and 0.003, respectively). rs227092 GT genotype exhibited significantly higher CBMN frequency (10.78 ± 6.60‰) than did the GG genotype (7.91 ± 6.30‰, P = 0.025) among the PAH-exposed workers. The haplotype pairs GGGGTGC/AAACATT exhibited significantly higher CBMN frequency (12.05 ± 7.40‰) than did the GGGGTGC/GGGGTGC (7.51 ± 6.19‰, P = 0.007) among the PAH-exposed group. In conclusion, it is suggested that the polymorphisms of ATM were associated with the CBMN frequencies among PAH-exposed workers.