GLUTATHIONE-S-TRANSFERASE MU POLYMORPHISM AND SUSCEPTIBILITY TO LUNG-CANCER IN THE PORTUGUESE POPULATION

Epidemiological studies have led to the suggestion that a genetic basi s may exist in the individual variation in predisposition to cancer. I nterindividual differences in human toxicological response to carcinog enic exposure have been attributed to heritable polymorphisms in metab olism, namely glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) coding for enzymes tha t are known to be detoxifiers of carcinogens. Within the human GST mu class, there is a specific isozyme that is frequently lacking. To chec k whether or not this association exists in the Portuguese population with lung cancer, we used polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based genoty ping to examine GSTM1 polymorphism (nulled and non-nulled) in 84 indiv iduals as a control healthy population and a group of 98 lung cancer p atients. In this study we were able to find a frequency of the GSTM1 p henotype among our healthy control subjects consistent with earlier ge notyping studies in other Caucasoid populations. For the group of indi viduals with lung cancer as a whole, or in subsets of histological sub types, our data for the Portuguese population did not show a positive correlation between the null allele and this neoplasm. In contrast, we found a slight increase in the frequency of the wild-type allele in o ur lung cancer group. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.