Association of GSTM1 and GSTT1 deletion with lung cancer development in Pakistani population

Aim: Lung cancer has increased rapidly in the past few decades. Environmental and genetic factors are contributing toward its incidence. Several studies have been reported with conflicting results regarding polymorphism of GSTM1 and GSTT1 genes and their contribution in development of lung cancer. It has been observed that these genetic polymorphisms show geographical variations. Therefore, we conducted a case control study to find the association of various environmental factors as well as GSTM1 and GSTT1 deletion with susceptibility of lung cancer. Patients and Methods: DNA of pathologically confirmed lung cancer patients and cancer-free controls were amplified using multiplex PCR to check the deletion of GSTM1 and GSTT1 genes. Results: Demographic factors like age, gender, smoking, passive smoking, smoking duration, smoking dose and other addictions were found to be significantly related (P = 0.05) with incidence of lung cancer. Deletion of GSTM1 and GSTT1 showed non--significant results (P = 0.05) when comparing with development of lung cancer. Conclusion: Results revealed that certain environmental factors may be considered as a risk factor but deletion of GSTM1 and GSTT1 are not associated with the development of lung cancer; however, studies including 500 patient samples is suggested.