Background: The present study was carried out to investigate the association of GST and FTO gene polymorphisms with cataract cases and controls.
Materials and methods: The study included 131 cases and 126 controls. GST and FTO gene polymorphisms were evaluated by PCR-RFLP.
Results: The frequency of the GSTM1-positive and GSTT1-positive in cataract cases were 62.13% and 86.40% while in the controls it was 46.39% and 95.87% with odds ratios of 1.9 (95% CI, 1.08-3.32; p value 0.025) and 0.27 (95% CI, 0.09-0.86; p value, 0.019) respectively. There was a statistically significant association between the GSTM1 null genotype and the risk of cataract development with an odds ratio of 0.43 (95% CI, 0.24-0.76; p value, 0.003). Significant differences were obtained in the frequencies of FTO AA and TT genotype (p = 0.023 and 0.023) between cases and controls.
Conclusion: The present study suggested that GSTM1, GSTT1 and FTO gene polymorphisms are associated with increased risk for cataract in North Indian populations. Due to the limited sample size, the finding on GST and FTO gene polymorphisms need further investigation.
Keywords: Cataract; FTO; GST; genetic polymorphism.