Glutathione S-transferase M1 gene but not insulin-like growth factor-2 gene or epidermal growth factor gene is associated with prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the most common urologic malignancy involving multiple factors. There is evidence that suggests that detoxification enzymes and growth factors may play a role in the formation of prostate cancer. Our aim was to investigate whether polymorphisms of glutathione S-transferase M1 (GST M1), insulin-like growth factor-2 (IGF-2), and epidermal growth factor (EGFR) genes could be used as genetic markers for risk of prostate cancer. In this study, we compared the frequency of the polymorphisms of GST M1, IGF-2, and EGFR genes among 96 patients with prostate cancer and 121 healthy male volunteers from the same geographic area (age, older than 60 years). There was significant difference in the GST M1 genotype between the prostate cancer group and the control group (P=0.042). The GST M1 null genotype was significantly higher in the cancer group (59.4%) than in the control group (45.5%). However, our study did not reveal a significant association between prostate cancer and the distribution of the IGF-2 or EGFR genotypes. This study suggests that the GST M1 gene, but not the IGF-2 or the EGFR genes, may be a risk factor of developing prostate cancer in Taiwan.