Ethnic differences in poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase pseudogene genotype distribution and association with lung cancer risk

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PADPRP) is a nuclear DNA-binding enzyme that can modulate chromatin structure close to DNA replication, recombination and repair regions. Two-allele polymorphism on the PADPRP chromosome 13 pseudogene has been studied in several ethnic subpopulations, and the association of each allele with different types of cancer has been investigated. To study the frequency of the allele in the context of lung cancer, we performed a PCR assay for the PADPRP polymorphism in 288 lung cancer patients and 292 matched controls and examined the frequency of the alleles in different ethnic groups. Our results showed that the allele distribution was significantly different among members of different ethnic groups. Specifically, the A allele was dominant in Mexican-American and Caucasian groups but not in the African-American group, The frequencies of the B allele in Mexican-American. Caucasian and African-American controls were 0.184, 0.218 and 0.606, respectively, with the Caucasian cases and controls showing an almost identical lower B allele frequency (0.199 in cases versus 0.218 in controls), and the African-American cases and controls showing an almost identical but considerably higher frequency (0.578 in cases versus 0.606 in controls). In contrast, the Mexican-American cases and controls exhibited a considerable difference in the B allele frequency (0.306 in cases versus 0.184 in controls). When we combined subjects with the AB or BB genotype into a susceptible genotype group and compared them with the AA group using univariate analysis, the susceptible genotype was not shown to be associated with a risk of lung cancer in either the Caucasian or African-American subpopulation but was significantly associated with an increased risk (2.29-fold) of lung cancer in the Mexican-American group. When lung cancer was categorized by histologic type, no elevated risk was noted for squamous cell carcinoma in any ethnicity. However, in Mexican-Americans, susceptible genotypes were associated with significantly increased risks of adenocarcinoma (3.21-fold) and large cell carcinoma (10.79). Our study and others have demonstrated that the PADPRP polymorphism may modify an individual's susceptibility to certain cancers. Assessment of the interaction between genetic constitution and environmental exposure might expand our understanding of carcinogenesis and enhance our ability to evaluate the populational cancer risk.