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Cigarette smoking, glutathione-S-transferase M1 and T1 genetic polymorphisms, and breast cancer risk (United States)

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Abstract

Objective: It has been suggested that functional polymorphisms in genes encoding tobacco carcinogen-metabolizing enzymes may modify the relationship between tobacco smoking and breast cancer risk. We sought to determine if there is a gene–environment interaction between GSTM1 (GSTM1A and GSTM1B), and GSTT1 genotypes and cigarette smoking in the risk of breast cancer. Methods: Cases and controls were recruited in a case–control study conducted in Connecticut from 1994 to 1998. Cases were histologically confirmed, incident breast cancer patients, and controls were randomly selected from women histologically confirmed to be without breast cancer. A total of 338 cases and 345 controls were genotyped for GSTM1 and GSTT1. Results: None of the GSTM1 genotypes, either alone or in combination with cigarette smoking, was associated with breast cancer risk. There was, however, a significantly increased risk of breast cancer among postmenopausal women with a GSTT1 null genotype (OR = 1.9, 95% CI 1.2–2.9). There were also indications of increased risk of breast cancer associated with cigarette smoking for postmenopausal women with GSTT1-null genotype, especially for those who commenced smoking before age 18 (OR = 2.9, 95% CI 1.0–8.8). Conclusion: Women with a GSTT1-null genotype may have an increased breast cancer risk, especially postmenopausal women who started smoking at younger ages.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, 60 College, New Haven, CT, USA

    Tongzhang Zheng, Theodore R. Holford, Patricia H. Owens, Yawei Zhang & John Pierce Wise Sr.

  2. 129 Church Street, Suite 700, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA

    Tongzhang Zheng

  3. Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Shelia H. Zahm

  4. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy

    Peter Boyle

  5. Department of Neurosurgery, University of Texas at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    Lisa Pleasants Stephenson & Francis Ali-Osman

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  1. Tongzhang Zheng
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Zheng, T., Holford, T.R., Zahm, S.H. et al. Cigarette smoking, glutathione-S-transferase M1 and T1 genetic polymorphisms, and breast cancer risk (United States). Cancer Causes Control 13, 637–645 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019500109267

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