The role of endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene polymorphisms in patients with lung cancer

Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in the lung tissues. The most common causes of lung cancer are tobacco smoke, radon gas, asbestos, air pollution, and genetic factors. Nitric oxide (NO) has potential mutagenic and carcinogenic activity and may play important roles in lung cancer. Endothelial NO, synthesized from L-arginine by endothelial NO synthase (eNOS), inhibits apoptosis and promotes angiogenesis and tumor cell proliferation. The aim of the present study was to examine the possible relationship between eNOS gene intron 4 VNTR and exon 7-G894T (Glu298Asp) polymorphisms and lung cancer risk. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes of 107 lung cancer patients and 100 controls subject. These polymorphisms were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and/or restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Our study showed that the b/b genotype and b allele frequencies of eNOS gene intron 4 VNTR polymorphism were significantly higher in the lung cancer patients than in controls (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference between eNOS gene G894T polymorphism and lung cancer risk (p>0.05). These result suggest that the presence of the intron 4 VNTR* b allele and bb genotype may be a genetic risk factor for development of lung cancer. Further larger-scale studies are needed to confirm these findings.