title: High prevalence of the GSTM3*A/B polymorphism in sub-Sarahan African populations.
abstract: A 3-bp insertion/deletion polymorphism in intron 6 of GSTM3 (rs1799735, GSTM3*A/*B) affects the activity of the phase 2 xenobiotic metabolizing enzyme GSTM3 and has been associated with increased cancer risk. The GSTM3*B allele is rare or absent in Southeast Asians, occurs in 5-20% of Europeans but was detected in 80% of Bantu from South Africa. The wide genetic diversity among Africans led us to investigate whether the high frequency of GSTM3*B prevailed in other sub-Saharan African populations. In 168 healthy individuals from Angola, Mozambique and the São Tomé e Príncipe islands, the GSTM3*B allele was three times more frequent (0.74-0.78) than the GSTM3*A allele (0.22-0.26), with no significant differences in allele frequency across the three groups. We combined these data with previously published results to carry out a multidimensional scaling analysis, which provided a visualization of the worldwide population affinities based on the GSTM3 *A/*B polymorphism.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of University of Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vargens
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Príncipe
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amorim
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Prata
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Suarez-Kurtz
mesh_terms: D017954:Africa South of the Sahara; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
chemical_list: C483009:GSTM3 protein, human; D005982:Glutathione Transferase