Glutathione S-transferase GSTT1 and GSTM1 allozymes:: beyond null alleles

Genetic variations in the glutathione S-transferases GSTT1 and GSTM1 have been studied in many human populations, and association of these variations with environmentally-related cancers, drug-induced hepatotoxicity and even chronification of viral hepatitis has been shown. However, studies carried out to date have been limited to gene deletion, designated as null alleles, and no extensive studies on other types of genetic variations have been carried out. This study is of great importance, as it describes the occurrence and the allele frequencies for 18 SNPs in the GSTT1 gene, including four nonsynonymous SNPs, and 69 SNPs, two of which are nonsynonymous, in the GSTM1 gene. The GSTT1 SNPs leading to the amino acid substitutions Asp43Asn, Thr65Met, Thr104Pro and a single nucleotide deletion in exon 4 cause a decrease in immunoreactive protein. Interestingly, the previously described nonsynonymous GSTT1 SNPs rs2266635 (Ala21Thr), rs11550606 (Leu30Pro), rs17856199 (Phe45Cys), rs11550605 (Thr104Pro), rs2266633 (Asp141Asn) and rs2234953 (Glu173Lys) were not identified in 400 subjects, thus indicating that these variant alleles are expected to occur at extremely low frequencies. This study reinforces the need to combine SNP databases and resequencing. On combining the data reported in this study with SNP databases, the most promising target SNPs for GSTT1 association studies are those causing the amino acid changes Asp43Asn, Thr65Met, Thr104Pro and the single nucleotide deletion in exon 4. These gene variants should be analyzed in African-American and Hispanic subjects to increase the predictive capacity of genetic tests. For Caucasians and Oriental subjects, testing for null alleles seems to be sufficient.