Polymorphisms in genes involved in metabolism of genotoxic and inflammatory substances and their role in risk for disease

Background: The vulnerability to develop disease after chemical exposure varies from person to person. This variation in vulnerability is often connected to biological differences in metabolism and the detoxification of genotoxic and inflammatory substances.

There are also proven differences in repairing of damaged DNA caused by these substances. There are strong indications that the interaction between the environment and certain gene-variants has a role in the prevalence of diseases.

Gaining knowledge on these gene-variations is important because it can give us better understanding of the causal mechanism, and it will also help contributing to identify unknown risks of exposure and exposure-levels. In addition this knowledge may be used to understand individual differences in risk and tolerance for disease.

Aim:
We will with this project examine gene-variations in the Norwegian population related to lung cancer, DNA-damage, and inflammatory responses.
The project will focus on variations in genes related to metabolism of chemical substances and inflammatory reactions.
The interaction between transcriptional factors as regulators of carcinogen metabolizing and inflammatory genes will also be examined.

Project page in Norwegian