Lack of association between DNMT1 gene polymorphisms and noise-induced hearing loss in a Chinese population.

DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) plays a crucial role in maintaining of methylation and chromatin stability. And mutations in DNMT1 can induce one form of neurodegenerative diseases with dementia and sensorineural hearing loss. To assess whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or haplotypes of DNMT1 are related to noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) in a Chinese population, we genotyped three functional polymorphisms (rs12984523, rs16999593, and rs2228612) in a case-control study involving 615 NIHL cases and 644 controls. However, no significant association was detected between these three SNPs and NIHL susceptibility in the Chinese population. Our data suggested that the DNMT1 polymorphisms may not contribute to risk of NIHL in the Chinese population.