Genetic variability of glutathione S-transferase enzymes in human populations: functional inter-ethnic differences in detoxification systems

Glutathione S-Transferase enzymes (GSTs) constitute the principal Phase II superfamily which plays a key role in cellular detoxification and in other biological processes. Studies of GSTs have revealed that genetic polymorphisms are present in these enzymes and that some of these are Loss-of-Function (LoF) variants, which affect enzymatic functions and are related to different aspects of human health. The aim of this study was to analyze functional genetic differences in GST enzymes among human populations. Attention was focused on LoF polymorphisms of GSTA1, GSTM1, GSTO1, GSTO2, GSTP1 and GSTT1 genes. These LoF variants were analyzed in 668 individuals belonging to six human groups with different ethnic backgrounds: Amhara and Oromo from Ethiopia; Colorado and Cayapa Amerindians and African Ecuadorians from Ecuador; and one sample from central Italy. The HapMap database was used to compare our data with reference populations and to analyze the haplotype and Linkage Disequilibrium diversity in different ethnic groups. Our results highlighted that ethnicity strongly affects the genetic variability of GST enzymes. In particular, GST haplotypes/variants with functional impact showed significant differences in human populations, according to their ethnic background. These data underline that human populations have different structures in detoxification genes, suggesting that these ethnic differences influence disease risk or response to drugs and therefore have implications for genetic association studies involving GST enzymes. In conclusion, our investigation provides data about the distribution of important LoF variants in GST genes in human populations. This information may be useful for designing and interpreting genetic association studies.