Abstract

Glutathione S-Transferases (GSTs)(1) are enzymes catalyzing reactive oxygen species which are believed to participate in the carcinogenesis of different cancers. We aimed to assess the distribution and the potential impact of GSTT1 and GSTM1 polymorphisms on the risk of several types of cancers in an Iranian population. In this case-control study, 213 cancer patients along with 213 healthy volunteers were included. GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms were genotyped using multiplex-PCR. In all the subjects, GSTT1 (+)/GSTM1 (-) genotype (43.9) was of the highest frequency following by GSTT1 (+)/GSTM1 (+) (35.9). No significant differences were observed in the distributions of GSTM1 and GSTT1 gene polymorphisms between cases (45.5 and 9.4, respectively) and controls (42.3 and 9.9 respectively). The GSTM1 gene polymorphism was not associated with the overall risk of cancer (OR = 0.85), nor with the individual risk of breast (OR = 1.04), thyroid (0.63), lymphatic (1.05) or bone (0.97) neoplasms. Accordingly, there were no significant associations between GSTT1 polymorphism with neither overall cancer risk (1), nor with the risk of breast (OR = 1.36), thyroid (0.93), lymphatic (0.84) and bone (1.64) tumors. Although statistically insignificant, GSTT1(-)/GSTM1(-) genotype represented the highest risk for lymphoma (OR = 1.89, 95 CI: 0.75-4.81, P = 0.13). Our results indicated no significant association between GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms and risk of cancers in southeast population of Iran.