Methodology article

Method for determination of (-102C>T) single nucleotide polymorphism in the human manganese superoxide dismutase promoter

Robert CG Martin^1,3 , Kalista Hughes¹ , Mark A Doll² , Qing Lan⁴ , Benjamin D Martini² , Jolanta Lissowska⁵ , Nathaniel Rothman⁴ and David W Hein^2,3

¹Departments of Surgery, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY, USA

²Pharmacology & Toxicology, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY, USA

³James Graham Brown Cancer Center, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY, USA

⁴Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, NIH, DHHS, Bethesda, MD, USA

⁵Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, Cancer Center and M. Slodowska-Curie Institute of Oncology, Warsaw, Poland

author email corresponding author email

BMC Genetics 2004, 5:33doi:10.1186/1471-2156-5-33

Published:	14 December 2004

Abstract

Background

Manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) plays a critical role in the detoxification of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species constituting a major cellular defense mechanism against agents that induce oxidative stress. The MnSOD promoter contains an activator protein-2 (AP-2) binding site that modifies transcription of MnSOD. Mutations have been identified in the proximal region of the promoter in human tumor cell lines. One of these mutations (-102C>T) has been shown to change the binding pattern of AP-2 leading to a reduction in transcriptional activity. The aim of our study was to develop a method to identify and determine the frequency of this (-102C>T) polymorphism in human tissues.

Results

A new TaqMan allelic discrimination genotype method was successfully applied to genomic DNA samples derived from blood, buccal swabs, snap frozen tissue and paraffin blocks. The polymorphism was shown to be in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium in an evaluation of 130 Caucasians from Warsaw, Poland: 44 (33.8%) were heterozygous and 6 (4.6%) were homozygous for -102T.

Conclusion

This report represents the first description of the MnSOD -102C>T polymorphism in human subjects by a novel Taqman allelic discrimination assay. This method should enable molecular epidemiological studies to evaluate possible associations of this polymorphism with malignancies and other diseases related to reactive oxygen species.