Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2009, 219(4)

The Cys326 Allele of the 8-Oxoguanine DNA N-Glycosylase 1 Gene as a Risk Factor in Smoking- and Drinking-Associated Larynx Cancer

ELZBIETA PAWLOWSKA,¹ KATARZYNA JANIK-PAPIS,² MALGORZATA RYDZANICZ,³ KAROLINA ZUK,² DARIUSZ KACZMARCZYK,⁴ JUREK OLSZEWSKI,⁵ KRZYSZTOF SZYFTER,³ JANUSZ BLASIAK² and ALINA MORAWIEC-SZTANDERA⁴

¹Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
²Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
³Institute of Human Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan, Poland
⁴Department of Head and Neck Cancer, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
⁵Department of Otolaryngology, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland

Tobacco smoke-related products and ethanol would induce oxidative modifications to the DNA bases, thereby contributing to larynx cancer. Human 8-oxoguanine DNA N-glycosylase 1 (hOGG1) deals with oxidative DNA damage, and the base changes in the hOGG1 gene may alter the susceptibility of the human cells to tobacco smoke-related compounds and/or ethanol. In the present work, we investigated the association between smoking, drinking or the Ser326Cys polymorphism of the hOGG1 gene and the risk of larynx cancer in a Polish population. It has been reported that the Ser326 allele exhibits higher activity than the Cys326 variant. In this study, 253 age-matched controls and 253 patients with larynx cancer were enrolled. The polymorphism was determined with DNA from blood lymphocytes by polymerase chain reaction. The frequencies (%) of the genotypes were Ser/Ser 65.6, Ser/Cys 30.4, and Cys/Cys 4.0 in the controls and those in patients were 55.7, 36.0 and 8.3, respectively. Stratification of individuals according to their smoking and drinking habits indicated that these habits might be significant risk factors in larynx cancer. The Ser/Cys and Cys/Cys genotypes are significantly associated with the increased risk of larynx cancer. These genotypes increased the risk ratio of larynx cancer among heavy smokers, but did not change the risk in former smokers and moderate smokers. These genotypes also increased the risk of larynx cancer in moderate and heavy drinkers. Therefore, the Cys326 allele of the hOGG1 gene may increase the risk of larynx cancer associated with smoking or alcohol consumption.

keywords —— smoking; alcohol consumption; hOGG1; larynx cancer; gene polymorphism.

© 2009 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2009, 219, 269-275

Correspondence: Janusz Blasiak, Department of Molecular Genetics, Banacha 12/16, 90-237 Lodz, Poland.

e-mail: januszb@biol.uni.lodz.pl