Combined effects of genetic polymorphisms in six selected genes on lung cancer susceptibility

Various molecular epidemiological studies have been performed to find genetic etiology for lung cancer. Particularly, genetic polymorphisms in NAD(P)H-quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1), cytochrome P450 (CYP)1A1, myeloperoxidase (MPO), glutathione-S-transferase (GST)P1, GSTT1, and GSTM1, and have been suspected to affect lung cancer risk. However, there was no study that examined the combined effects of these genes on lung cancer risk. We studied the combined genetic effects on lung cancer risk in 671 Korean subjects including 318 lung cancer patients and 353 controls. They filled questionnaires, which included lifestyle and childhood- and current environment data. Based on single nucleotide polymorphisms and gene deletions, genetic polymorphisms of the above six genes were determined with PCR-RFLP and TaqMan methods. As results, genetic polymorphisms in the GSTP1, MPO, and CYP1A1 among the genetic factors showed associations with lung cancer risk. The reference, which is supposed to have the lowest risk for cancer, was subjects who were homozygous wild type of the GSTP1 and CYP1A1 and had the MPO- mutant allele. After combination study of the three gene-polymorphism, the subjects who were most different with the reference, i.e. had the mutant allele of the GSTP1 and CYP1A1 and homozygous wild type of the MPO, showed approximately 5-fold-higher risk for lung cancer than the reference (95% CI, 2.05-12.05). Therefore, our study suggests that the combination of the GSTP1, MPO, and CYP1A1 variations affects susceptibility to lung cancer.