Polymorphisms of Glutathione S-transferases Omega-1 among ethnic populations in China

Human variability in glutathione-S-transferase activities, tissue distribution and major polymorphic variants: Meta-analysis and implication for chemical risk assessment

The input into the QIVIVE and Physiologically-Based kinetic and dynamic models of drug metabolising enzymes performance and their inter-individual differences significantly improve the modelling performance, supporting the development and integration of alternative approaches to animal testing. Bayesian meta-analyses allow generating and integrating statistical distributions with human in vitro metabolism data for quantitative in vitro-in vivo extrapolation. Such data are lacking on glutathione-S-transferases (GSTs). This paper reports for the first time results on the human variability of GST activities in healthy individuals, their tissue localisation and the frequencies of their major polymorphic variants by means of extensive literature search, data collection, data base creation and meta-analysis. A limited number of papers focussed on in vivo GST inter-individual differences in humans. Ex-vivo total GST activity without discriminating amongst isozymes is generally reported, resulting in a high inter-individual variability. The highest levels of cytosolic GSTs in humans are measured in the kidney, liver, adrenal glands and blood. The frequencies of GST polymorphisms for cytosolic isozymes in populations of different geographical ancestry were also presented. Bayesian meta-analyses to derive GST-related uncertainty factors provided uncertain estimates, due to the limited database. Considering the relevance of GST activities and their pivotal role in cellular adaptive response mechanisms to chemical stressors, further studies are needed to identify GST probe substrates for specific isozymes and quantify inter-individual differences.

Urinary arsenic metabolism in a Western Chinese population exposed to high-dose inorganic arsenic in drinking water: influence of ethnicity and genetic polymorphisms

To investigate the differences in urinary arsenic metabolism patterns of individuals exposed to a high concentration of inorganic arsenic (iAs) in drinking water, an epidemiological investigation was conducted with 155 individuals living in a village where the arsenic concentration in the drinking water was 969μg/L. Blood and urine samples were collected from 66 individuals including 51 cases with skin lesions and 15 controls without skin lesions. The results showed that monomethylated arsenic (MMA), the percentage of MMA (%MMA) and the ratio of MMA to iAs (MMA/iAs) were significantly increased in patients with skin lesions as compared to controls, while dimethylated arsenic (DMA), the percentage of DMA (%DMA) and the ratio of DMA to MMA (DMA/MMA) were significantly reduced. The percent DMA of individuals with the Ala/Asp genotype of glutathione S-transferase omega 1 (GSTO1) was significantly lower than those with Ala/Ala. The percent MMA of individuals with the A2B/A2B genotype of arsenic (+3 oxidation state) methyltransferase (AS3MT) was significantly lower than those with AB/A2B. The iAs and total arsenic (tAs) content in the urine of a Tibetan population were significantly higher than that of Han and Hui ethnicities, whereas MMA/iAs was significantly lower than that of Han and Hui ethnicities. Our results showed that when exposed to the same arsenic environment, different individuals exhibited different urinary arsenic metabolism patterns. Gender and ethnicity affect these differences and above polymorphisms may be effectors too.

Association of glutathione S-transferase omega gene polymorphisms with progression of head and neck cancer

This study investigated the influence of glutathione S-transferase omega 1 (GSTO1) and GSTO2 gene polymorphisms on susceptibility and aggressiveness of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). A case-control study consisting of 300 HNSCC cases and 299 age and sex- matched normal control was performed. Genotyping of GSTO1*A140D and GSTO2*N142D polymorphisms was determined using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Our results revealed that the frequencies of GSTO1 and GSTO2 genotypes were not significantly different between HNSCC cases and controls. No significant differences were found in smoking or drinking status between cases and controls. However, HNSCC individuals with the GSTO1*D140 varient were significantly associated with nodal metastasis (OR = 0.53, 95 %CI = 0.31-0.91, P = 0.020) and advanced pathological stage (OR = 0.33,95 %CI = 0.15-0.70, P = 0.032), while no significant association was observed between GSTO2 genotype and clinicopathological features. Therefore, our findings suggest that the GSTO1*D140 variant genotype in individuals might play a protective role against the aggressiveness of HNSCC.

Lack of association of glutathione-S-transferase omega 1(A140D) and omega 2 (N142D) gene polymorphisms with urinary arsenic profile and oxidative stress status in arsenic-exposed population

Individual variability in arsenic metabolism is suggested to be associated with the effects of chronic arsenic exposure on health. Glutathione-S-transferase omega (GSTO) 1 and 2 are known to have the activity of monomethyl arsenate [MMA(V)] reductase, which is the rate-limiting enzyme for the biotransformation of inorganic arsenic. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between polymorphisms in the GSTO1 and GSTO2 genes and arsenic metabolism and oxidative stress status in Chinese populations chronically exposed to different levels of arsenic in drinking water. Two polymorphisms (GSTO1*A140D and GSTO2*N142D) with relatively higher mutation frequencies in the Chinese population were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The allele frequencies of 140D and 142D in the entire study population were 0.17 and 0.25, respectively. There were no significant differences in the urinary arsenic profile, the blood reduced glutathione (GSH) levels, the blood superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, or the urinary 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels between the study subjects with different genotypes of GSTO1*A140D or GSTO2*N142D. Multivariate analysis revealed that there was no association between the urinary profile or oxidative stress status and the polymorphism of GSTO1*A140D or GSTO2*N142D. Collectively, polymorphisms in GSTO1 or GSTO2 do not appear to contribute to the large individual variability in arsenic metabolism or susceptibility to arsenicosis.