Genetic polymorphisms of N-acetyltransferase 2 and colorectal cancer risk

To identify the distribution of N-acetyltrasferase 2(NAT2) polymorphism in Hebei Han Chinese and the effects of the polymorphism on the development of colorectal cancer.

We performed a hospital-based case-control study of 237 healthy individuals and 83 colorectal cancer patients of Hebei Han Chinese. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood and cancer tissues. The genotypes of the polymorphisms were assessed by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP).

There were four NAT2 alleles of WT, M1, M2, and M3 both in the healthy subjects and in the patients, and 10 genotypes of WT/WT, WT/M1, WT/M2, WT/M3, M1/M1, M1/M2, M1/M3, M2/M2, M2/M3, M3/M3. M2 allele was present in 15.61% of healthy subjects and 29.52% of patients (chi(2) = 15.31, P<0.0001), and M3 allele was present in 30.59% of healthy subjects and 16.87% of patients (chi(2) = 25.33, P<0.0001). There were more WT/M2 (chi(2) = 34.42, P<0.0001, odd ratio = 4.99, 95%CI = 2.27-9.38) and less WT/M3 (chi(2) = 3.80, P = 0.03) in the patients than in the healthy subjects. In 70.3% of the patients, there was a difference in NAT2 genotype between their tumors and blood cells. Patients had more WT/M2 (chi(2) = 5.11, P = 0.02) and less M2/M3 (chi(2) = 4.27, P = 0.039) in their blood cells than in the tumors. Furthermore, 53.8% (7/13) of M2/M3 in tumors were from WT/M2 of blood cells.

There is a possible relationship between the NAT2 polymorphisms and colorectal cancer in Hebei Han Chinese. The genotype WT/M2 may be a risk factor for colorectal cancer.