Increased risk of lung cancer in Japanese smokers with class mu glutathione S-transferase gene deficiency.

Japanese lung cancer patients (n = 121) and community controls (n = 201), both with current smoking history and aged < or = 69, were compared for the rates of class mu glutathione S-transferase (GSTmu) negative genotype detected by polymerase chain reaction. The prevalence of the GSTmu negative genotype was 45.3% in the community control group and 68.4%, 69.2%, 54.3% and 72.7% in the squamous cell carcinoma, small cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and other primary lung cancer groups, respectively. Odds ratios adjusted for age, sex composition and smoking index by multiple logistic regression analysis were 2.71 (1.23-5.99), 2.72 (1.11-6.66), 1.33 (0.68-2.60), and 3.27 (0.83-12.81), respectively. These results suggest that smokers with a GSTmu negative genotype are at higher risk for bronchial carcinoma than smokers with positive genotype.