Background: Central Europe presents with the highest incidence of sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC) worldwide. As sporadic CRC represents a typical multifactorial disease, it is characterized by intense interaction of the genetic background with the environment. Glutathione S-transferases could act as attractive susceptibility genes for CRC, as they are directly involved in conjugation between glutathione and chemotherapeutics, environmental pollutants and a wide spectrum of xenobiotics.
Methods: In this study, we investigated associations of polymorphisms in glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) genes, that is GSTA1, GSTT1, GSTM1 and GSTP1, with CRC in a total of 197 cases and 218 controls originating from the Czech Central European population. Polymorphisms were assessed by polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism-based methods, allele-specific multiplex and allelic discrimination by real-time polymerase chain reaction.
Results: None of investigated polymorphisms showed any associations with CRC, with the exception of GSTP1; where the heterozygote genotype Ile105Val was associated with decreased risk of CRC (P = 0.043).
Conclusions: The frequencies observed in our study are in accordance with those from other European Caucasian populations. Based on our studies, examined variability in GST genes is not a major determinant of CRC susceptibility in the Central European population.