Impact of single nucleotide polymorphism in chemical metabolizing genes and exposure to wood smoke on risk of cervical cancer in North-Indian women.

AIM: In the present study, we investigated the hypothesis whether exposure to wood smoke increases the risk of cervical cancer (CC) in North-Indian women who inherit different polymorphic forms of chemical metabolizing genes (GSTM1, GSTT1, GSTP1 and CYP1A1).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred fifty histologically confirmed CC patients and equal number of cancer-free age and ethnicity matched controls were genotyped for genetic polymorphism in chemical metabolizing genes by using polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism method. The association of the different genotypes and exposure to wood smoke with the risk of CC in North-Indian women was estimated by doing statistical analysis using Statistical Package for the Social Science.

RESULTS: It was observed that the variant genotypes of GSTM1, GSTT1, GSTP1 and CYP1A1 did not significantly increase the risk of CC. However, statistically significant increased risk (odds ratio 3.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.34-9.78; p = 0.008) was observed for women who used wood for cooking and had GSTM1 (null) genotype.

CONCLUSIONS: The present study suggests that genetic differences in the metabolism of wood smoke carcinogens, particularly by GSTM1, may increase the risk of CC.