LACK OF ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE POLYADENYLATION POLYMORPHISM IN THE NAT1 (ACETYLTRANSFERASE-1) GENE AND COLORECTAL ADENOMAS

Smoking and a high intake of red meat are risk factors for colorectal tumors, These effects could be due to aromatic amine carcinogens. Indi vidual susceptibility to aromatic amines has been related to acetylati on phenotype, which plays a role in the bioactivation of arylamines. P olymorphisms in both N-acetyltransferase genes, NAT1 and NAT2, have be en associated with an increased risk of colorectal tumors, We studied the NAT110 fast acetylator allele (1088 T-->A mutation) and distal ad enomas in a sigmoidoscopy-based case-control study (441 cases, 484 con trols), We found neither an increased adenoma prevalence in subjects h omozygous or heterozygous for the NAT110 fast acetylator allele (odds ratio 1.04; 95% confidence interval 0.79-1.36), nor a gene-gene inter action between NA1 and NAT2 (Pinteraction = 0.59), Further NAT1 allele s must be considered for more conclusive results regarding the relevan ce of NAT1 activity to colorectal tumorigenesis.