Genetic polymorphism of xenobiotic metabolising enzymes in Slovenian lung cancer patients

Most carcinogenic substances require metabolic activation in order to becom e ultimate carcinogens. Genetic polymorphism of xenobiotic metabolising enz ymes cytochromes P450 may therefore influence human cancer susceptibility. The aim of our study was to investigate if CYP1A1 gene polymorphism contrib utes to lung cancer susceptibility in Slovenian patients. Two polymorphic s ites in CYP1A1 gene were analysed in DNA samples from 100 healthy controls and 199 lung cancer patients using genotyping approach. Our results indicat e that CYP1A1 may be one of the factors determining susceptibility to squam ous cell carcinoma of lung in Slovenian population. However the frequency o f CYP1A1 polymorphisms is too low to be a potentially useful marker of incr eased lung cancer risk.