Glutathione S-transferase gene polymorphism as a susceptibility factor in smoking-related coronary artery disease

Yaroğlu, Hatice Yıldırım | Çamsarı, Ahmet | Yılmaz, Dilek Çiçek | Sucu, Nehir | Aras, Nurcan | Tamer, Lülüfer

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world, and cigarette smoking is a major contributing factor to the disease. Glutathione S-transferase (GST) enzyme is implicated in the detoxification of carcinogens present in tobacco smoke and consequent polymorphisms in this gene may confer susceptibility to cardiovascular disease if DNA damage is important in CAD. Therefore, we examined this question in a case-control study of subjects having coronary atheroma by angiography and with a past history of myocardial infarction (MI). The study population consists of 247 healthy controls and 148 consecutive patients who had undergone coronary angiography for suspicion of coronary artery disease. DNA was extracted from whole blood, and the GSTM1 and GSTT1 pol...