Association between Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism of the Human Cytochrome P450IIE1 Gene and Susceptibility to Lung Cancer

Cytochrome P450IIE1 (P450IIE1) is involved in metabolic activation of carcinogenic nitrosamines, aniline and benzene. We detected a restriction fragment length polymorphism of the human P450IIE1 gene with the restriction endonuclease Oral. The population was thus divided into three genotypes, namely, heterozygotes (CD) and two forms of homozygotes (CC and DD). The distribution of these genotypes among lung cancer patients differed front that among controls with statistical significance of P< 0.05 (x(2)=7.01 with 2 degrees of freedom). This result strongly suggests that host susceptibility to lung cancer is associated with the Dral polymorphism of the P450IIE1 gene.