No Association of NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1)C609T Polymorphism and Risk of Hepatocellular CarcinomaDevelopment in Turkish Subjects

NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) is a cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the two-electron reductionof numerous quinoid compounds into their less toxic form, thus NQO1 protecting cells against oxidative stress.The gene coding for NQO1 has a single nucleotide polymorphism (C→T) at nucleotide position 609 (prolineto serine substitution at position 187 in amino acid sequence (P187S)) (rs1800566) of the NQO1 cDNA whichresults in very low enzimatic activity, so it would be expected that individuals with the homologous NQO1C609T polymorphism would have a susceptibility developing cancer. Previous studies of the association betweenfunctional NQO1 C609T polymorphism and several human cancers have had mixed findings but associationof NQO1 C609T polymorphism with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development has yet to be investigated.In this study, we aim to evaluate the the association of NQO1 C609T with the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) development among Turkish population. NQO1 C609T polymorphism was investigated in 167 confirmedsubjects with HCC and 167 cancer-free control subjects matched on age, gender, smoking and alcohol consumptionby using a polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay. Thereis no association between the allel or genotype of NQO1 C609T polymorphism and HCC development riskin the Turkish subjects examined (p>0.05). Our result demonstrate for the first time that the NQO1 C609Tpolymorphism is not a genetic susceptibility factor for HCC in the Turkish population. Independent studies areneed to validate our findings in a larger series, as well as in patients of different ethnic origins.