Evidence of association of the CYP2E1 genetic polymorphism with micronuclei frequency in human peripheral blood

Micronuclei (MN) are used as one of the cytogenetic biomarkers, and intra- and inter-individual variations in this frequency have been reported in human blood lymphocytes. Polymorphisms in a few metabolic enzyme genes seem to account for a proportion of this variability, but the impacts of specific genetic variants on the MN frequency have not yet been clarified. Here, we investigated the relationship between the MN frequency and several gene polymorphisms in 90 healthy Japanese men. The subjects with the CYP2E1(*)3 variant allele had a statistically lower mean MN frequency than subjects with the CYP2E1(*)1/(*)1 wild type. Furthermore, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) of the CYP2E1(*)3 variant with higher MN frequency levels was also significantly lower and calculated to be 0.25 (95% CI 0.07-0.83), when the OR for the subjects with the CYP2E1(*)1/(*)1 wild type was defined as 1.00. These data suggest that the CYP2E1(*)3 polymorphism may have the potential to influence the baseline frequency of MN.