Genetic analysis of glutathione S-transferase A1 and T1 polymorphisms in a Japanese population

Novel allelic variants have been found in the glutathione S-transferase (GST) A1 and T1 genes. The former GSTA1*B allele is associated with low expression and the latter GSTT1*B allele lacks GSTT1 activity. The information on frequencies of both variants is poorly documented in the Japanese population. In this study we determined the frequencies of allelic variants of GSTA1 and GSTT1 in a Japanese population using PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism and allele-specific PCR. The frequencies of GSTA1*B, GSTT1*0 and GSTT1*B alleles in the subjects were 16.0%, 71.1% and 0%, respectively. This is the first report on the frequencies of allelic variants of GSTA1 and GSTT1 in a Japanese population.