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Updated: Mar 19, 2026
Author Spotlight: Innovating Thiol Quantification and Biomarker Detection for Oxidative Stress Research
Published on: June 28, 2024
Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms and Markers of Oxidative Stress in Healthy Women
Albina N Minlikeeva1, Richard W Browne2, Heather M Ochs-Balcom1
1Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, United States of America.
Purpose:
There is accumulating evidence that oxidative stress is an important contributor to carcinogenesis. We hypothesized that genetic variation in genes involved in maintaining antioxidant/oxidant balance would be associated with overall oxidative stress.
Methods:
We examined associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in MnSOD, GSTP1, GSTM1, GPX1, GPX3, and CAT genes and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), a blood biomarker of oxidative damage, in healthy white women randomly selected from Western New York (n = 1402). We used general linear models to calculate age-adjusted geometric means of TBARS across the variants. We also examined the associations within strata of menopausal status.
Results:
For MnSOD, being heterozygous was associated with lower geometric means of TBARS (less oxidative stress), 1.28 mg/dL, compared to homozygous T-allele or homozygous C-allele,1.35 mg/dL, and 1.31 mg/dL correspondingly (p for trend = 0.01). This difference remained among postmenopausal women, 1.40 mg/dL for TT, 1.32 mg/dL for TC, and 1.34mg/dL for CC (p for trend 0.015); it was attenuated among premenopausal women. SNPs in the other genes examined (GSTP1, GSTM1, GPX1, GPX3, and CAT) were not associated with TBARS.
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that genetic variation in MnSOD gene may be associated with oxidative status, particularly among postmenopausal women.
