Background and objective Breast cancer remains the most common cause of cancer
mortality in women. The aim of this study was to investigate associations
between genetic variability in GSTM1 and GSTT1 and susceptibility to breast
cancer. Methods Genomic DNA was extracted from blood samples for 80 cases of
histologically diagnosed breast cancer and 100 control subjects. Genotyping
analyses were performed by PCR-based methods. Associations between specific
genotypes and the development of breast cancer were examined using logistic
regression to calculate odds ratios [1] and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).
Results No correlation was found between GSTM1-null and breast cancer (OR =
1.83; 95%CI 0.90-3.71; p = 0.10), while GSTT1-null (OR = 2.42; 95%CI 1.17-5.02;
p= 0.01) was associated with increased breast cancer risk. The GSTM1/GSTT1
double null was not associated with an increased risk of developing breast
cancer (OR = 2.52; 95%CI 0.75-8.45; p = 0.20). Furthermore, analysis found no
association between GSTM1-null (OR =1.12; 95%CI 0.08-15.50; p = 1.00) or
GSTT1-null (OR = 1.71; 95%CI 0.13-22.51; p = 1.00) and the disease stage of
familial breast cancer patients or sporadic breast cancer patients (GSTM1 (OR =
0.40; 95%CI 0.12-1.32; p = 0.20) and GSTT1 (OR = 1.41; 95%CI 0.39-5.12; p =
0.75)). Also, body mass index (BMI) was not associated with increased or
decreased breast cancer risk in either GSTM1-null (OR = 0.60; 95%CI 0.21-1.68; p
= 0.44) or GSTT1-null (OR = 0.60; 95%CI 0.21-1.68; p =0.45). Conclusion Our
results suggest that only GSTT1-null is associated with increased susceptibility
to breast cancer development.

Breast cancer risk; Burkina Faso; GSTM1-GSTT1; Genotypes.