Clinical, Cytogenetic and CYP1A1 exon-1 Gene Mutation Analysis of Beedi Workers in Vellore Region, Tamil Nadu

Background: Beedi rollers are exposed to unburnt tobacco dust through cutaneous and pharyngeal route andit is extremely harmful to the body since it is carcinogenic in nature and can cause cancer during long exposure.This indicates that occupational exposure to tobacco imposes considerable genotoxicity among beedi workers.Materials and
Methods: In the present study, 27 beedi workers and age and sex matched controls were enrolledfor clinical, cytogenetics and molecular analysis. Clinical features were recorded. The workers were in the agegroup of 28-67 years and were workers exposure from 8-60 years. Blood samples were collected from workersand control subjects and lymphocyte cultures were carried out by using standard technique, slides were preparedand 50 metaphases were scored for each sample to find the chromosomal abnormalities. For molecular analysisthe genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood, to screen the variations in gene, the exon 1 of CYP1A1gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and then screened with Single Strand ConformationPolymorphism (SSCP) analysis.
Results: A statistically significant increase was observed in the frequencies ofchromosomal aberrations in exposed groups when compared to the respective controls and variations observedin Exon 1 of CYP1A1(Cytochrome P450, family 1, subfamily A, polypeptide 1) gene.
Conclusions: This studyshows that, the toxicants present in the beedi that enter into human body causes disturbance to normal stateand behavior of the chromosomes which results in reshuffling of hereditary material causing chromosomalaberrations and genomic variations.