Investigation of effects of lymphoma associated gene polymorphisms and Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor(AhR) activation on DNA

Abstract Aim:To investigate whether AhR activation induces DNA damage, whether polymorphisms in genes related to risk of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma are associated with DNA damage, and whether the two conditions do interact with each other. Material and Methods. Our study population included 36 subjects, randomly selected among the population controls participating in a case-control study on lymphoma in Sardinia, Italy, who donated a blood sample.We investigated 47 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously reported to convey risk of lymphoma; the Dual-Glo® Luciferase Assay System to detect activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) by the serum of study subjects; and the COMET Assay to detect DNA damage. Results:Activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor did not increase DNA damage in our study population. On the other hand, the mutant allele (G) of rs1056932/BCL6 increased the occurrence of DNA damage (p=0.045); such association was confirmed only among AhR negative subjects (p=0.025). Conclusion: We observed excess DNA damage associated with a gene polymorphism, namelyrs1056932/ BCL6,previously reported in association with risk of lymphoma.No increase in DNA damage was associated with AhR activation per se, nor with the other gene polymorphisms we investigated.