A Study of the Relationship between the Blood Levels of the 8-Oxoguanine DNA Glycosylase, Smoking and Risk of Lung Cancer

Introduction: The role of The 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase (OGG1) is to delete DNA parts that have been damaged by oxygen radicals, thus preventing lung cancer.Objective: This work is aiming to study the relationship between the variation in the blood levels of the 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase (OGG1), smoking and risk of lung cancer.Material and Methods: This study included 36 patients diagnosed as bronchogenic carcinoma, divided pathologically into 30 non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and 6 small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients, 40 non-smoker and 40 smokers’ healthy subjects, taken as control. They were subjected to medical history taking, clinical examination, chest radiography and Quantitative RT- PCR of mRNA levels of OGG1 in blood.Results: There was a non significant increase in the mean level of the OGG1 in the non smoker group compared to the cancer and smokers’ groups (p 0.5). There was a non statistical significant decrease in the mean value of the OGG1 in the NSCLC compared to that of SCLC (p 0.5). There was statistical highly significant decrease in the mean value of the OGG1 in cases of adenocarcinoma compared to that in cases of squamous cell carcinoma and SCLC (p 0.0001).Conclusion: The decreased in the levels of OGG1 in blood could be a risk factor for lung cancer and was associated with adenocarcinoma. A substantial fraction of lung cancer cases might result from a combination of smoking and reduced OGG1 level.