DNA repair capacity (DRC) plays an important role in genetic susceptibility to cancer. Polymorphisms of a number of DNA repair genes involved in several distinct pathways have been identified. However, their effects on repair function have not been well characterized. We demonstrated previously that DRC for removal of benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide-induced DNA damage measured by a host-cell reactivation assay was modulated by two XPD/ERCC2 polymorphisms in lung cancer. In this report, we investigated the association between the repair phenotype of ultraviolet (UV)-induced damage and genotypes of three DNA repair genes, XPC and XPD [involved in nucleotide excision repair (NER)] and XRCC1 [involved in base excision repair (BER)]. We measured DRC for removal of UV photoproducts by the host-cell reactivation assay in cryopreserved lymphocytes from 102 healthy non-Hispanic white subjects. We also typed these subjects for five polymorphisms in these three DNA repair genes (at intron 9 of XPC; exons 6, 10 and 23 of XPD and exon 10 of XRCC1). Compared with wild-type homozygotes, subjects homozygous for polymorphisms of the two NER genes consistently had suboptimal DRC. The DRC was consistently lower in subjects homozygous for XPC, XPD or both than in subjects with other genotypes, although the difference was not statistically significant for XPD variants. In contrast, the polymorphic allele of the BER gene, XRCC1, had no consistent effect on DRC. We concluded that these NER polymorphisms may modulate DRC and may be useful biomarkers for identifying individuals at risk of developing cancer.

XPA, a DNA binding protein in the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway, modulates damage recognition. Recently, a common single-nucleotide polymorphism (A --> G) of unknown function was identified in the 5' non-coding region of the XPA gene. Because a deficiency in NER is associated with an increased risk of lung cancer, we evaluated the role of this polymorphism in 695 lung cancer case patients and 695 age-, sex-, ethnicity- and smoking-matched control subjects. We also studied the effect of this polymorphism on NER capacity in a subset sample for whom the host cell reactivation data were available. The presence of one or two copies of the G allele was associated with a reduced lung cancer risk for Caucasians [adjusted odds ratio (ORadj) = 0.69 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.53-0.90]], Mexican-Americans [ORadj = 0.32 (95% CI = 0.12-0.83)] and African-Americans [ORadj = 0.45 (95% CI = 0.16-1.22)]. In Caucasians, ever smokers with one or more copies of the G allele were observed to have a significantly reduced risk of lung cancer. Control subjects with one or two copies of the G allele demonstrated more efficient DRC than did those with the homozygous A allele. Our data suggest that the XPA 5' non-coding region polymorphism modulates NER capacity and is associated with decreased lung cancer risk, especially in the presence of exposure to tobacco carcinogens.

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Reduced DRC is an independent risk factor for CMM and may contribute to susceptibility to sunlight-induced CMM among the general population.

Tobacco-related carcinogens cause a variety of DNA damage that is repaired by different enzymatic pathways, suggesting that DNA repair plays an important role in tobaccoinduced carcinogenesis. In a large hospital-based case-control study, we investigated DNA repair capacity (DRC) as a biomarker for susceptibility to nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and evaluated the possible interaction between DRC and tobacco smoke in 467 newly diagnosed NSCLC patients and 488 cancer-free controls. We measured DRC in cultured peripheral lymphocytes using the host-cell reactivation assay with a reporter gene damaged by an activated tobacco carcinogen, benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide. The results showed that current smokers exhibited the highest DRCs as compared to former and nonsmokers both among patients and control subjects. There were no differences of DRC among 3 different histopathologic types of NSCLC. Logistic regression analysis revealed that suboptimal DRC and pack-years smoked were independent predictors of NSCLC risk. The overall 15.5% reduction in DRC observed in the cases (7.84%) compared to the controls (9.28%) (p<0.001) was associated with an approximately 2-fold increased risk of NSCLC (adjusted odds ratio (OR) ‫؍‬ 1.85, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.42-2.42). There was a significant dose-response association between decreased DRC and increased risk of lung cancer. Furthermore, we observed a nonstatistically significant additive but not multiplicative interaction between DRC and pack-years smoked on lung cancer risk, particularly in the histopathologic types of NSCLC other than adenocarcinoma. The results suggest that suboptimal DRC is associated with increased risk of NSCLC and DRC may modulate the risk of lung cancer associated with smoking but the latter needs to be verified in larger studies.Key words: case-control study; molecular epidemiology; DNA repair; lung cancer; smoking Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death both in men and women in the United States with an estimated 171,900 new cases and 157,200 deaths in 2003. 1 Cigarette smoking has long been established as the predominant risk factor for lung cancer, 2-4 with evidence of a strong dose-response relationship between smoking and lung cancer risk. 5 Cumulative evidence has indicated that the carcinogenic effects from exposure to some tobacco constituents such as benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compound that originates from both tobacco smoke and other environmental sources, are modified by host susceptibility factors. 6,7 B[a]P is a well-studied tobacco carcinogen among other PAHs, and its bioactivated form, B[a]P diol epoxide (BPDE), can damage DNA irreversibly by covalent binding or by oxidation to form BPDE-DNA adducts. 8 The levels of PAH-DNA adducts, including BPDE-DNA adducts, detected in tissues are higher in smokers than in nonsmokers. 9,10 Therefore, tobacco smoke is a source of B[a]P that forms DNA adducts in humans.However, the fact that only about 10% of heavy smokers develop lung cance...