ASSESSMENT OF CANCER SUSCEPTIBILITY IN HUMANS BY USE OF GENETIC POLYMORPHISMS IN CARCINOGEN METABOLISM

Prevention is an important and effective measure for reducing death ca used by cancer. Thus information on individual susceptibility to cance r is valuable in suggesting high risk individuals to avoid intake of c arcinogenic substances and receive frequent physical screening, To thi s end, polymorphisms found within cytochrome P450 (CYP) genes implicat ed in the metabolism of procarcinogens are expected to be good genetic targets in assessing human cancer susceptibility, We have found polym orphisms in the CYP2E1 and CYP1A1 genes associated with lung cancer su sceptibility, though there were some discrepancies from observations m ade by other investigators, Discrepancies among investigators from dif ferent regions, however, are very common in these pharmacogenetic stud ies. We present an explanation for these discrepancies, difficulties a ssociated with prediction of relative risk of individuals, and future directions.