• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2003

To determine the frequencies of the genotypes of estrogen metabolising enzyme (CYP17, CYP1A1, CYP1B1, and COMT) and to identify the high-risk genotypes of these metabolic enzymes to breast cancer in Korean, the author has analysed 115 breast cancer patients and corresponding age and sex matched heathy controls using polymerase chain reaction-restiction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). A2/A2 genotype in CYP17 polymorphism, m2/m2 genotype in CYP1A1 polymorphism, and Val/Val genotype in CYP1B1 had 0.95, 1.40 and 0.76 relive risks to breast cancer comparing with reference genotypes of each polymorphism, respectively. Among the genotypes of COMT enzyme polymorphism, L/H and L/L genotypes had 0.97 and 1.54 relative risks to breast cancer, respectively. According to the number of high risk genotype, the patients with one or two putative high risk genotypes had 0.95 and 1.94 relative risks to breast cancer, respectively. This study have demonstrated the unique frequency of genotypes of estrogen metabolizing enzyme in Korean healthy women, which will provide the basic data and insights to study the estrogen related conditions in Korean women including breast and endometrial cancers. And it also indicates that the well-known high risk genotypes of estrogen metabolizing enzymes are not significantly associated with the development of breast cancer in Korean women.