Glutathione S-transferase M1 status and breast cancer risk: A meta-analysis

It is not yet clear whether Glutathione S-transferase M1 (GSTM1) polymorphisms affect the risk of breast cancer. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive meta-analysis of all the available, published case-control studies on the extent of the possible association between GSTM1 polymorphisms and susceptibility to breast cancer. Twenty case-control studies on GSTM1 and breast cancer were identified using both PUBMED and a manual search. Meta-analysis was conducted by the Peto method. Subgroup analyses were undertaken, in order to explore the relationship between effect sizes and the study characteristics. The overall odds ratio (OR) was found to be 1.06 (95% CI, 0.99-1.14). The OR for post-menopausal women with GSTM1 deficiency was determined to be 1.19 (95% CI, 1.05-1.34). In populations with a low frequency of GSTMI deficiency, a greater increase was observed (OR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.08-1.34). Furthermore, the highest associations were found in post-menopausal women with a low frequency of GSTMI deficiency (OR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.20-1.73). The fact that GSTMI deficiency is not rare in the general population implies that the attributable risk for breast cancer could be sizable. Further studies focusing on the structure of haplotype blocks of GSTMI are required in order to find a specific haplotype with a predisposing breast cancer susceptibility allele.