Does CYP1A1 gene polymorphism affect cell damage biomarkers and ageing?

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effects of cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) gene polymorphism on early ageing due to occupational exposure to mutagens. The project was conducted on buccal epithelial cells collected from mechanical-workshop workers and controls. Epithelial cells were obtained from the inner part of the cheeks. Techniques including comet assay, micronuclei test, real-time polymerase chain reaction, and restriction fragment length polymorphism-polymerase chain reaction were used to assess DNA damage biomarkers. The results showed that there was a significant difference in relative telomere length (P = 0.039) between wild and mutated genotypes among all individuals. Furthermore, occupational exposure showed no statistically significant effects on biomarkers of the possible influences of gene polymorphism and different rates of ageing among workers (P > 0.05), except for relative telomere length (P = 0.041) among workers as a whole. It was concluded that the effects of occupational exposure to mutagens on genetic material in buccal cells mediated by CYP1A1 gene polymorphism were not significant. In addition, CYP1A1 gene polymorphism might have a protective effect against premature ageing due to occupational exposure to mutagenic chemicals.