Ethnic susceptibility to lung cancer: differences in CYP2E1, CYP1A1 and GSTM1 genetic polymorphisms between French Caucasian and Chilean populations

Many investigators have reported an association between genetic polymorphis ms of cytochromes P-450 CYP2E1, CYP1A1 or glutathione S-transferase Mu (GST M1) and susceptibility to lung cancer. However, pronounced interethnic Vari ations have been described in the frequencies of these polymorphisms, espec ially between Asians and Caucasians. The present study was set up to establ ish CYP2E1 (c1, c2 and C, D), CYP1A1 (m1, m2 and Ile, Val) and GSTM1 (null) allelic frequencies in Chileans (n = 96) who are an admixture of Native Am ericans and Caucasians (Spaniards). The rare allele frequencies were found to be 0.15 (c2), 0.21 (C), 0.23 (m2), 0.32 (Val) and 0.21 ('null' genotype) . These values are significantly higher than those of Caucasians except for the GSTM1 'null' genotype and suggest differences in susceptibility to lun g cancer between both populations. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. A ll rights reserved.