Genetic polymorphisms in carcinogen detoxifying genes and risk of cervical cancer in Maharashtra, India: a case control study.: Polymorphism in GSTM1, GSTT1, GSTP1 and cervical cancer in Maharashtra

Objectives: To explore the association of genetic polymorphisms in individual or combined genotypes of GSTM1, GSTT1 and GSTP1 with cervical cancer (CC) susceptibility in women from Maharashtra. Methods: The polymorphisms in GSTM1 and GSTT1 were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and GSTP1 by polymerase chain reaction - Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) in 350 CC cases and 400 healthy controls. Results: In this study we found GSTM1 and GSTT1 as risk factors with significant association with null (-/-) genotypes of M1 and T1 with increasing the risk of CC by 1.41 and 1.46 folds respectively. GSTM1 (-/-) null genotype was prominent among cases (36.29%) indicating contributory risk factor for development of CC (OR=1.41; 95% CI: 1.03-1.91; p=0.02), GSTT1 null increases in CC cases (OR=1.46, 95% CI: 1.04-2.06; p=0.02). The combined analysis of GSTM1 (-/-) / GSTT1 (-/-) showed 2.27 folds higher risk of development of CC (OR=2.27, 95% CI: 1.25-4.09; p=0.005), whereas, combinations of GSTP1 genotype (A/G +G/G) of exon 5 with GSTM1 null, which showed 1.92 fold risk of CC (OR=1.92, 95% CI: 1.21-3.04; p=0.005) and combination of (C/T +T/T) genotype of GSTP1 exon 6 with GSTM1 (-/-) null did not show any association with development of CC (OR=0.81, 95% CI: 0.52-1.25; p=0.35). Triple combinations of GSTM1, T1 null and P1 (A/G or G/G) genotypes showed significant association (p=0.005) with a 3.04 times risk of developing CC. Conclusions: This investigation affirms the conceivable interactions between GST polymorphisms and development of cervical cancer in rural population of south western Maharashtra from India.