Objective: To explore the relationship between genetic polymorphism of APE1, XRCC1 and susceptibility of chromosomal damage induced by vinyl chloride monomer (VCM).
Methods: 75 workers occupationally exposed to VCM were investigated. Chromosome damage in peripheral lymphocyte were measured by cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CB-MN) test. Created restriction site-restrained fragment length polymorphism (CRS-RFLP) and PCR-RFLP technique was applied to detect single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in APE1 gene (c.148) and XRCC1 gene (c. 194, c.280 and c. 399).
Results: The frequencies of the Asp and Glu alleles of APE1 148 in our study population were 61% and 39%, respectively. The frequencies of occurrence of the Arg and Trp alleles of XRCC1 194 were 85% and 15%. The frequencies of occurrence of the Arg and His alleles of XRCC1 280 were 85% and 15%, too. Whereas the prevalence of Arg allele was 87.0% and XRCC1 399 allele Gln was 13.0%. The risk of chromosomal damage induced by VCM for individuals carrying XRCC1 c. 194 Arg/Arg genotype was 0.6898 (95% CI 0.4997 - 0.9333, P = 0.0195) of those carrying Arg/Trp, Trp/Trp genotypes. The risk of chromosomal damage for female VCM exposure workers was 1.6000 (95% CI 1.2284 - 2.0699, P = 0.0004) of male workers. The haplotypes TGG/CGG and TGG/CAGCGGG were associated with the decreased frequencies of total micronucleus ( P < 0. 05).
Conclusion: It was suggested that female workers and subjects carrying XRCC1 194 Arg/Arg genotypes could be higher risk of chromosomal damage when they exposed to VCM.