Study on the relationship between glutathione S-transferase M1, T1 genotypes and Kazak esophageal cancer

Objective To explore the association between genetic polymorphisms of glutathione S-transferase (GST) M1 and T1 and susceptibility to Kazak population esophageal cancer (EC). Methods A polymerase chain reaction method was used to detect absence of the GSTM1 and GSTT1 genes in genomic DNA in a high-risk ethnic, Xinjiang, China. Results The frequency of the GSTM1-null genotype in cancer cases (41.47%) was not significantly different from that in controls ( 34.15%). Similarly, no statistically significant differences were observed in the frequency of GSTT1-null genotype in cancer cases (48.78%) compared with control (51.22%). However, the frequency of GSTM1 null alleles genotypes in cases with well-differentiated cancer ( 15.38%) showed a significant decrease compared with that in poor-differentiated cancer ( 53.57%) (P0.05). Conclusions GSTM1-null genotypes may act as risk factor in the development of poor-differentiated esophageal cancer in Kazak population.