Evaluation of the risk of lung cancer associated with NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) C609T polymorphism in male current cigarette smokers from the Eastern India

NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) is an endogenous cellular defence mechanism against several carcinogenic quinones derived from cigarette smoke. NQO1 C609T polymorphism is a strong determinant of NQO1 structure and function. The people with mutant allele for this polymorphism has significantly reduced NQO1 activity. In this study, we tried to evaluate the risk of lung cancer associated with this polymorphism in male current smokers of the Eastern India. Using PCR-RFLP method, we compared the NQO1 C609T genotype distribution in male current smokers with (n=150) and without (n=200) lung cancer. We observed significant variation of genotypic distribution between these two groups. The allele frequency of the variant C609T allele were 40.3% and 32.7% in smokers with and without lung cancer, respectively. From the genotypic comparison between the two smoker groups, it was found that a higher risk (OR=1.64, 95% CI: 1.05-2.55, P<0.05) of lung cancer was associated with NQO1 C609T polymorphism.